Preventing Sexual Harassment: DOD Needs Greater Leadership Commitment and an Oversight Framework
Highlights
Sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination that can jeopardize the military's combat readiness and mission accomplishment by weakening interpersonal bonds and eroding unit cohesion. GAO was asked to examine the most current available data on sexual harassment in the military and to assess the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to address this issue. GAO evaluated the extent to which DOD (1) has developed and implemented policies and programs to help prevent and address incidents of sexual harassment involving servicemembers, (2) has visibility over the occurrence of sexual harassment involving servicemembers, and (3) provides oversight of its policies and programs for addressing incidents of sexual harassment. To conduct this review, GAO analyzed DOD and service policies and DOD's available sexual harassment complaint data. GAO also conducted small-group discussions and administered a nongeneralizable survey during site visits to six military installations.
DOD has a long-standing policy aimed at providing an environment that is free from sexual harassment, and each of the military services has implemented its own polices and a program for addressing sexual harassment; however, some aspects of its policy and programs could be improved. For example, according to a 2010 DOD survey, while the majority of active duty servicemembers indicated that they believe that their immediate supervisor makes honest and reasonable efforts to stop sexual harassment, an estimated 25 percent of servicemembers indicated they did not know whether or did not believe their supervisor made such efforts. DOD's survey also found that an estimated 41 percent of servicemembers indicated that in their work group people would be able to get away with sexual harassment to some extent, even if it were reported. Similarly, GAO's nongeneralizable survey of active duty servicemembers found that 64 of 264 females and 53 of 319 males did not believe or were unsure of whether their direct supervisor created a climate that discourages sexual harassment from occurring. GAO also found that DOD has not held commanders accountable for completing required assessments of the equal opportunity climates in their commands. Further, GAO found that DOD does not have adequate guidance on how incidents of sexual harassment should be handled in environments wherein two or more of the services are operating together, resulting in confusion or reducing servicemembers' satisfaction with how complaints are handled. GAO found that DOD has limited visibility over the occurrence of sexual harassment because not all military installations and commands report sexual harassment complaint data to their respective service-level sexual harassment program offices and found that the department does not have a set of uniform data elements with which to collect such data. GAO also found that servicemembers resolve most complaints of sexual harassment informally rather than report them formally. Estimates from DOD's survey found that the majority of servicemembers who felt they were harassed sexually chose not to formally report the incident. Similarly, GAO's survey found that 82 of 583 servicemembers indicated that they had been harassed sexually during the preceding 12 months; of these, only 4 indicated that they had reported the incident formally. GAO found several reasons why servicemembers may choose not to report an incident, including the belief that the incident was not sufficiently serious to report or that the incident would not be taken seriously if reported. DOD has established some oversight requirements but has exercised little oversight of its policies and programs for addressing incidents of sexual harassment. GAO found that the office responsible for overseeing DOD's sexual harassment policies and programs has not developed an oversight framework--including clear goals, objectives, milestones, and metrics for measuring progress--to guide its efforts. For example, although DOD requires the services to provide an annual assessment of their programs, including specific data for sexual harassment complaints, DOD has not enforced these reporting requirements for almost a decade. Moreover, DOD's resources for oversight of this area are limited to one person, who has multiple other responsibilities. As a result, decision makers in DOD do not have the information they need to provide effective oversight, or assess the effectiveness, of the department's policies and programs. GAO is making a total of five recommendations to improve the implementation and oversight of DOD's sexual harassment policies and programs, such as specifying uniform data elements when collecting and reporting complaint data and developing an oversight framework to help guide the department's efforts. DOD concurred with GAO's recommendations and noted it will develop an executable plan, prioritize actions, and address resourcing for the changes recommended.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense |
Priority Rec.
To improve leadership's commitment to preventing and responding to incidents of sexual harassment, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to develop a strategy for holding individuals in positions of leadership accountable for promoting, supporting, and enforcing the department's sexual harassment policies and programs. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with our recommendation and stated that leadership accountability is essential to the success of the department's efforts to prevent sexual harassment. In February 2018, DOD took action toward addressing this recommendation and released an update to DOD Instruction 1020.03, Harassment Prevention and Response in the Armed Forces, that directs DOD's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), to ensure that DOD components' harassment prevention and response programs incorporate, at a minimum, compliance standards for promoting, supporting, and enforcing polices, plans, and programs. As of March 2021, DOD had not completed development of a strategy with the compliance standards. In The William M. (Mac) Thornberry NDAA for Fiscal Year 2021, Congress required the Secretary of Defense to provide a report to the defense committees on the actions taken to implement this recommendation not later than one year after enactment. Specifically, it requires the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a DOD-wide strategy to hold individuals in positions of leadership in the department accountable for the promotion, support, and enforcement of the department's policies and programs on sexual harassment. In March 2024, DOD provided its Prevention Plan of Action (PPOA), which highlights leadership responsibility for ensuring an environment free from harm and abuse and specifies department responsibility for holding leaders accountable. Specifically, it states, among other things, that military leaders at all levels are responsible for creating and fostering a climate grounded in mutual respect, trust, and an environment free from abuse and harm. Further, DOD also provided DOD Instruction 6400.11: DOD INTEGRATED PRIMARY PREVENTION POLICY FOR PREVENTION WORKFORCE AND LEADERS, which establishes how leaders will be held accountable: Specifically, it states: commanders of military units and civilian organizational leaders must conduct Command Climate Assessments (CCAs) at the echelon or level of command specified by their respective OSD and DoD Component heads. All CCA activities will include consideration of multiple sources of information about risk and protective factors for sexual assault and sexual harassment, and other harmful behaviors as determined by the Secretary of Defense, within the unit. Military commanders and organizational civilian leaders are ultimately responsible for meeting CCA requirements. The Department of Defense Human Resources Activity will provide a statement in the required unit commander or organizational leaders performance evaluation or annual fitness report annotating whether the unit commander or organizational leader met the requirements for a CCA timely manner and whether the unit commander or organizational leader implemented actions identified in the comprehensive IPP plan. As a result of these steps, DOD has implemented our recommendation.
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| Department of Defense | To improve implementation of the department's sexual harassment policies and programs, the Secretary of Defense should direct the service secretaries to verify or track military commanders' compliance with existing requirements that commanders periodically determine their organizational health and functioning effectiveness by periodically assessing their equal opportunity climate through "command climate" assessments. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with this recommendation and stated that it would implement the recommendation through revisions to its guidance. According to DOD, a 2013 memorandum from the Secretary of Defense on sexual assault prevention and response outlined requirements addressing leadership accountability for preventing sexual harassment. The memorandum included a requirement that the results of command climate surveys be provided to the next level up in the chain of command and directed service chiefs, through their respective military department secretaries, to develop methods to assess the performance of commanders in establishing command climates of dignity and respect. The Secretary of Defense also issued a memorandum addressing prevention and response of sexual harassment in 2014, and DOD updated its guidance on sexual harassment in 2015. In February 2020, DOD's Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion stated that the department had refocused its efforts to address this recommendation and will be issuing revised policies no later than September 30, 2020. In May 2021, DOD issued its Harassment Prevention Strategy for the Armed Forces for fiscal years 2021-2026 in which it directs the service secretaries to verify or track military commanders' compliance with existing requirements that commanders periodically determine their organizational health and functioning effectiveness by periodically conducting command climate assessments. However, the strategy is not a formal tasking or directive and therefore the office responsible for each objective may not carry it out. As of July 2021, DOD has drafted an implementation memo and template that it plans to release in August 2021 for the military department to fill out that will provide additional context for the required actions. In May 2023, DOD provided DOD Instruction 6400.11: DOD Integrated Primary Prevention Policy for Prevention Workforce and Leaders to GAO as evidence of the department's efforts to address GAO's recommendation. In that instruction, DOD directs the service component heads to assign roles and responsibilities to fulfill command climate assessment requirements, to include requiring unit commanders and organizational leaders to ensure command climate assessments are completed in accordance with the instruction's provisions; and allowing users responsible for tracking climate assessment compliance for their component to see and review which commanders, leaders, and primary prevention workforce staff have completed a climate survey, including the dates they were completed. The instruction also requires the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the DOD components to establish policies, procedures, and parameters to ensure military commanders and civilian organizational leaders complete annual climate assessment requirements and report the status of OSD or DoD Component unit commanders' and organizational leaders' compliance with the CCA requirements on an annual basis to organizational leaders', including the number of units or leaders who did not complete their climate assessment or completed their assessment outside of the standard fielding windows and the reasons for noncompletion or completion outside the standard fielding windows. As a result of these efforts, DOD has addressed GAO's recommendation and will be better positioned to track and verify commander compliance with command climate assessment requirements.
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| Department of Defense | To improve implementation of the department's sexual harassment policies and programs, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to develop guidance on how incidents of sexual harassment should be handled in environments wherein two or more of the services are operating together. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD has updated its guidance on sexual harassment, but has not implemented the recommendation. DOD concurred with this recommendation and stated that it would collaborate with the military services to propose specific guidance on how incidents of sexual harassment should be handled in joint environments (where more than one service is operating). According to DOD, a 2013 memorandum from the Secretary of Defense on sexual assault prevention and response outlined requirements addressing leadership accountability for preventing sexual harassment. The Secretary of Defense also issued a memorandum addressing prevention and response of sexual harassment in 2014, and DOD updated its guidance on sexual harassment in 2015. In 2016, DOD stated that its revised guidance had significantly improved standardization and accountability across all the services, as well as the National Guard Bureau, on the handling of sexual harassment incidents in joint environments. However, DOD has not issued specific guidance on handling sexual harassment incidents in joint environments.
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| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's visibility over formal sexual harassment complaints involving active duty servicemembers, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to take steps to ensure that the services' complaint data are complete and accurate and establish reporting requirements specifying uniform data elements that the services should use when collecting and reporting information on formal sexual harassment complaints. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD has enhanced its data collection on sexual harassment complaints but has not implemented the recommendation. DOD concurred with the recommendation and stated that it would collaborate with the military services to improve complaint data and develop uniform data elements. In 2014, in response to a provision of the defense authorization act, DOD issued a report to Congress on sexual harassment complaints covering fiscal year 2013. According to DOD?s report, the complaint data was compiled based on a standard template that was developed in conjunction with the military services. The Secretary of Defense also issued a memorandum addressing prevention and response of sexual harassment in 2014, and DOD updated its guidance on sexual harassment in 2015. In 2016, DOD stated that its revised guidance requires the services to provide complete and accurate data on sexual harassment incidents and to capture this information with uniform data and reporting requirements. Although DOD has taken some steps toward better data collection, DOD has not instituted procedures to ensure that complaint data are accurate and complete and that services collect and report this information using uniform data elements.
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| Department of Defense |
Priority Rec.
To enhance oversight of the department's program to help prevent and to address incidents of sexual harassment involving servicemembers, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to ensure that the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity develops and aggressively implements an oversight framework to help guide the department's efforts. At a minimum, such a framework should contain long-term goals, objectives, and milestones; strategies to accomplish goals; criteria for measuring progress; and results-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the department's sexual harassment policies and programs. Such a framework should also identify and include a plan for ensuring that adequate resources are available to carry out the office's oversight responsibilities. |
Open
DOD concurred with our recommendation and stated that as part of its revised guidance it proposed to strengthen and institutionalize the responsibilities and authorities needed for successful implementation of the department's sexual harassment policies. In February 2018, DOD took action toward addressing this recommendation and issued an update to DOD Instruction 1020.03, Harassment Prevention and Response in the Armed Forces, that directs DOD's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to ensure that DOD components' harassment prevention and response programs incorporate , at a minimum, (1) long-term goals, objectives, and milestones; (2) results-oriented performance measures to assess effectiveness; and (3) compliance standards for promoting, supporting, and enforcing policies, plans, and programs. As of March 2021, DOD has not developed and aggressively implemented an oversight framework, as we recommended. However, officials with DOD's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion stated that they planned to issue a new sexual harassment prevention strategy sometime in 2021. Further, in the William M. (Mac) Thornberry NDAA for Fiscal Year 2021, Congress required the Secretary of Defense to provide a report to the defense committees on the actions taken to implement this recommendation not later than one year after enactment. Specifically, it requires the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a strategy that consists of an oversight framework for the department's efforts to promote, support, and enforce policies and programs on sexual harassment. In May 2021, DOD issued its Harassment Prevention Strategy for the Armed Forces for fiscal years 2021-2026, which is to be used as oversight framework to guide the department's efforts. In reviewing the strategy, we found that it included the long-term goals element of an oversight framework. However, it did not fully include other key elements which are needed in an oversight framework, including (a) objectives, (b) milestones, (c) strategies to accomplish goals, (d) criteria for measuring progress, (e) adequate resources, and (f) performance measures. Further, the strategy was not a formal tasking or directive and thus the offices responsible for addressing key elements such as objectives, milestones, strategies to accomplish goals, criteria for measuring progress, and adequate resources, may not carry them out. In March 2024, DOD officials indicated that they were no longer working to revise the strategy and that they believe other actions taken by the department, such as the development of the Prevention Plan of Action 2.0 for Fiscal Years 2022 to 2024 addresses our recommendation. In reviewing the documents provided, we found that they include the strategic planning elements of long-term goals, objectives, and strategies to accomplish goals to implement the oversight framework. However, these documents did not include other key elements of strategic planning, such as criteria for measuring progress, results-oriented performance measures, and a plan for ensuring that the necessary resources are available. In addition to addressing all elements of strategic planning needed for an oversight framework, DOD should provide documentation that the military services have been formally tasked to implement the oversight framework.
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