U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on sexual assault and sexual harassment in the National Guard.
Rep. Gallagher's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Before we begin, I'd like to say that I look forward to working with you, Chairwoman Speier, through this NDAA cycle.
Last year was a bit of a whirlwind but I hope we can continue solving our military personnel challenges in a bipartisan fashion.
I'd like to thank our witnesses for joining us today.
Sexual assault and harassment are a blight on our armed forces, be they active, reserve, or guard.
This is an important hearing about the National Guard Bureau's efforts to coordinate with states and bring Federal resources to bear on tough cases.
The National Guard sits in an interesting position: Very few guard members are in a federal service status and subject to the military justice system at any given time unless they are activated under Title 10 orders.
They're in their communities doing civilian jobs and are subject to the same laws as everyone else.
For the overwhelming majority of Guard members these legal distinctions never cause any issue.
But criminal conduct or conduct unbecoming a member of our armed forces does happen.
Often entirely outside of any federal jurisdiction.
Guard members live under 54 different sets of state or territorial laws.
Congress has charged the National Guard Bureau and the Office of Complex Investigations (OCI) with assisting the Adjutants General in cases where local law enforcement can't or won't address a Guard-related crime.
Since 2012, OCI has helped fill the gap between state and local law enforcement criminal investigations and the high standards that we apply to our service members.
These cases often deal with complex legal issues and OCI has worked hard to find solutions over the last ten years.
As always, there is more we could do to improve accountability and integrity in our armed forces.
I look forward to hearing from the witnesses about what tools would improve the handling of sexual assault cases at OCI and how the Guard Bureau can better provide crime prevention resources to the states.
