Air Force to Shield Sex Victims’ IDs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. —  The secretary of the Air Force said Friday the Air Force Academy will reverse course and give confidentiality to cadets who say they have been sexually assaulted.

Confidentiality has been a key issue in the school’s assault scandal, with civilian investigators led by former Rep. Tillie Fowler saying it would encourage victims to come forward and help solve a problem that has plagued the academy for years.

“We are convinced the Fowler committee has a good point,” Air Force Secretary James Roche told the Board of Visitors, the only civilian panel charged with overseeing the prestigious school.

He said commanders know things must change because some female cadets will not report sexual assaults to a superior.

Roche and academy officials previously said the school needed to follow Air Force policy requiring all crimes to be reported without the guarantee of anonymity. On Friday, however, Roche said that will change.

“We are trying to find a way to do it to be a pilot for the entire Air Force,” he said.

Roche said the confidentiality policy should be in place by next month.

Board members Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Joel Hefley, both of whom are Colorado Republicans, said they supported the change.

“There needs to be a pathway of confidentiality,” Hefley said.

Former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, recently appointed to the board, said a cadet survey showed optimism in the ability of commanders to solve the scandal but that women still fear reprisals for reporting assaults.

Supt. Lt. Gen. John Rosa said that fear remains “very, very high” among cadets, though much of it is of peer ostracism.

There have been at least 142 reports of sexual assaults at the school in the last decade. New commanders have been installed and they are implementing sweeping changes, from alcohol policies to adding more dorm patrols.

Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff, said he was discouraged by e-mails from parents of cadets who think the scandal has been exaggerated. But he said talking with cadets has left him optimistic.

“I can see a change when they ask me how we are doing. I can see they are trying to get out of this nosedive,” he said. “This will be over when they decide it is over.”