This article contains graphic descriptions about sexual assault. On the evening of June 5, 2017, a soldier stationed in Camp Lemonnier, an American military base located in Djibouti's sun-bleached African nation, began her first shift with Alpha Company. The new assignment was not what she wanted. She was not happy about the idea of joining Alpha Company without any friends. The unit was also subject to sexual harassment. She reported to duty at midnight with a male officer non-commissioned who was higher than her. She told him that he had been watching her since the pre-deployment ceremony, when he decided that his pussy would be eaten. He also told her that he was a male noncommissioned officer who outranked her. He told her she could stay until it was time to move on to the next station, at midnight. Then he told her she should go, and then he told her she would be believed because she had less military experience. She began to masturbating her penis, fearing for her safety. According to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Army, Navy and Air Force, this incident was one of 158 sexual crimes involving U.S. military personnel. Although many files have been heavily redacted making it difficult to identify the individuals involved, they still shed light on U.S. Africa Command (or AFRICOM) operations. Many of these files include a series of scandals involving commanders and troops. The fact that more incidents are described than the official Pentagon sexual assault figures for Africa is even more shocking. This highlights the extent to which the military has not properly tracked cases of sexual offenses and thereby hides the severity of the problem.These numbers make me sick.The Pentagons Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (or SAPRO) compiles annual reports for Congress. These reports are supposed to include all cases of sexual assault involving U.S. Military personnel. The Pentagon has only listed 73 sexual assault cases in the AFRICOM region of operations between 2010 and 2020. This is the year of the latest report. The Intercept and Type Investigations have found that at least 158 sexual offenses were reported by military criminal investigators within the AFRICOM region of operations. These sexual misconduct charges against U.S. military personnel were brought up in at least 22 African countries, including 13 that are not included in the Pentagon's annual reports. Some allegations involve military personnel; others relate attacks on U.S. personnel perpetrated by civilians near U.S. outposts. These numbers have made me sick," Erin Kirk-Cuomo said. Erin Kirk Cuomo was a combat photographer in Marine Corps and created the non-profit advocacy group Not In My Marine Corps, which focuses on sexual assault and harassment. From what we know about unreported sexual attacks in general, I'd guess there are at most five times as many assaults. There is a widespread problem with sexual misconduct in military personnel. This is especially true for overseas deployments. A study showed that women who had combat-related experiences in Afghanistan or Iraq were more likely to report sexual harassment, both sexual harassment, and assault. According to the Pentagon's latest survey, approximately 20,500 military personnel are subject to sexual assault every year. However, only 6,290 formal allegations of sexual assault were filed in 2020 according to the SAPRO report. The Government Accountability Office found this year that up to 97 per cent of all allegations of sexual assault against civilian employees had not been documented by the Pentagon. According to the Department of Defense, survivors of sexual assault often reluctance to speak out for many reasons. These include a desire to move forward, keep their privacy and avoid shame. However, troops claim that even if they do come forward, they face a hostile military culture and command structure that don't take their claims seriously. They also face a lack of accountability in the military justice system. According to 2020 statistics, only a small number of cases are ever prosecuted and only 0.9 percent of them result in sexual offenses being convicted. The majority of the 158 cases identified in the AFRICOM file are those in which a member or victim of the armed forces sought justice through the military system. Many of these reports are not included in the Pentagon's official records. This shows how the military has failed properly to track sexual assault cases and taken appropriate action to address it. I'm not surprised, said retired Col. Don Christensen who was the chief prosecutor for Air Force and is now president of Protect Our Defenders. Protect Our Defenders is an organization that combats sexual assault in military. Their tracking system is flawed. There are cases that have not been tracked and incomplete data. There is missing data and reports that don't seem to add up.There are cases that have not been tracked down and incomplete data. There is missing data and reports that don't seem to add up.Maj. Csar Santiago of the Pentagon spoke out saying that the Defense Department collects data about sexual assault in order to inform policy, program design, and oversight activities. Santiago stated in an email that the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office collects data from sexual assault reports each year and analyzes them. Santiago also said that the results are presented in the Department's Annual Report on Sexual Assault within the Military. The Intercept and Type Investigations have revealed that the Biden administration has made combating sexual assault in military a key policy goal. As his first directive, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memorandum in January calling for top Pentagon leaders and generals to fight the enemies within their ranks and eradicate the scourge. Critics point out that there are conflicts of interest in the system. This is similar to a corporate executive deciding whether an employee has been sexually assaulted by another. Most military officers are male and lack formal legal training. They often side with the accused and pressure survivors to not bring formal charges. Only a few sex crimes have been convicted in court-martial. The Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault was established by Austin under President Joe Bidens direction. It recommended that cases be taken outside of the chain-of-command, something military leaders have long opposed. The Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault recommended that an independent panel of judges, reporting to the civilian-led Office of the Special Victim Prosecutor should decide whether or not to indict a perpetrator of sexual assault.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks at a briefing held at the Pentagon in Washington on May 6, 2021. Photo by Susan Walsh/APBoth Biden as well as Austin have supported the proposal. I support Secretary Austin's decision to accept the core recommendations of the Independent Review Commission on Military Sexual Assault. (IRC) included the removal of the investigation and prosecution for sexual assault from the chain-of-command and the creation of highly specialized units to deal with these cases, Biden stated in a statement last Wednesday. The statistics and stories about this terrible scourge have only gotten worse over the years that we have been abhorring it. We need to take concrete steps to change how we deal with military sexual assault. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is a prominent voice on the subject. She also supports a bill that would remove prosecution decisions from the chain of command for major offenses, such as rape.They are aware that accuracy and transparency make them appear worse.Austin made data collection a central part of his efforts. In January, Austin directed military leaders to conduct a thorough and data-driven assessment on sexual assault prevention programs. Austin stated that the primary focus should be on your oversight of programs and policies to ensure they are being implemented on the ground. Austin wrote that the assessment should include relevant data from the past decade, victim support, advocacy, and advocacy. This could help to explain the discrepancy in the Pentagon's annual figures and the files AFRICOM obtained by Type Investigations and The Intercept. This is a good thing for the military. Christensen stated that they know transparency and accuracy can make them look worse. Christensen said that people often give up looking for information and stop trying to find it. According to the case file, he attempted to kiss her and then claimed that he wanted to have a relationship with her. This led to an official complaint that resulted in a military protective order that prohibited the man from communicating or contacting her. According to Army documents, an officer thought there was probable cause for a sexual assault and referred the case to a commander for disciplinary or administrative action. The case is not known if any additional action was taken. It is unclear whether this case is among the 73 sexual assault allegations included in the annual Defense Department figures. The names of the soldiers involved have been redacted in the case file. These cases are a sign of how much military leaders allowed criminal and indiscipline to thrive at AFRICOM.Email Nick Turse at [email protected] if you have any information regarding sexual assault in the U.S. Military.After being investigated by the Pentagons inspector general for lavish travel, General William Kip Ward was deposed as command's first chief. He was accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollar on extravagant travel. On charges of sexual misconduct, Maj. Gen. Ralph Baker was fired from his position as commander of the Horn of Africa counterterrorism force. According to a criminal investigation file obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Baker had placed his hand between the legs of [an AFRICOM senior strategy adviser] and tried to touch her vaginal area. Baker was promoted to brigadier-general and allowed to retire quietly. After exchanging 1,158 Facebook messages with his spouse, Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington was fired as commander of U.S. Army Africa. Air Force Lt. Colonel Denis Paquette was the commander of the secret U.S. drone station in Tunisia. He had a relationship with an Air Force pilot and obstructed the investigation that led to his dismissal. The reputation of troops stationed at Paquettes dronebase was one of heavy drinking and hard partying. Failings in African military leadership have led to fatal consequences. Four U.S. soldiers were killed during an ambush in Niger in 2017. A Pentagon investigation revealed that Camp Lemonnier was the site of many alleged sexual assaults against U.S. military personnel. Camp Lemonnier, a former French Foreign Legion outpost, is a critical hub for American counterterrorism operations. It covers a total of 88 acres and has nearly 600 acres. It hosts approximately 5,000 U.S. personnel and allied personnel, making it the largest U.S. military base on the continent. According to AFRICOM files the following are the alleged crimes at Camp Lemonnier. In 2013, a Navy criminal investigation revealed that an Air Force staff sergeant made a series of inappropriate remarks and behaviors towards female subordinates. He also unzipped a blouse and forced a subordinate to spread her legs while she was at a guard shack. A soldier allegedly sexually assaulted a 20 year-old specialist by giving her more than two alcoholic drinks. He then followed her back home to her quarters. The soldier harassed the specialist for weeks, allegedly walking into her quarters and kissing and touching her. The soldier continued to harass the specialist for weeks, walking into her quarters uninvited and kissing and touching her. She eventually reported it. Army investigators concluded that the allegations were not substantiated and could not be refuted. The case was closed. A Navy chief yeoman claimed that she was bitten, choked, and hit by an Army staff sergeant. A specialist with the Armys 2nd Battalion 124th Infantry reported that while she was using the Wi-Fi outside her quarters, another soldier started talking to her and invited her into his room. The soldier took her hand and started pulling away from her. He eventually lifted her up and carried her to his quarters. He began to kiss and grope her, and then tried to pull her pants down. The perpetrator's roommate entered and helped her escape. According to criminal investigative records, the perpetrator then returned to the specialists quarters, tried to kiss her once more, then took her hand, and attempted to place it on her penis. A Navy Exchange massage therapist claimed that a third-class master-at-arms demanded additional services from her in June 2017. He was reported to the Navy Exchange. She refused to perform sexual acts. Another massage therapist, a civilian, claimed that the same man had groped her while she was receiving a massage. The Navy investigators closed down the case after they refused to give any further details. These incidents, regardless of whether the victim was a civilian, or a military member, should all be listed in the Pentagon's Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database. It is not known if they are. However, the annual reports don't tell all.Illustration by Vicky Leta, The InterceptZero data According to the SAPRO accounting, sexual assaults on U.S. military personnel occurred in nine African countries, including Djibouti (Ghana, Kenya, Somalia), South Africa, South Africa and Tunisia. John Manley, an AFRICOM spokesperson, praised the richness of the SAPRO reports that he claimed represented all sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program reporting across DoD. However, the files obtained by The Intercept and Type Investigations do not only include those nine countries but also 13 other countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso and Chad, Cameroon and Chad, Ethiopia and Liberia as well as cases from Niger, Senegal and Rwanda. These 13 countries are not included in the annual reports. Kirk-Cuomo said that overseas it is like the Wild West. These deployed environments have no oversight and people feel free to do what they want. There is not tracking. It is not possible to track sexual assaults that occur in these locations.These deployed situations are free from oversight and allow people to feel they can do whatever they want.It is difficult to compare the 73 cases reported by the Pentagon in its annual SAPRO reports to the 158 cases found in the AFRICOM files because of the redactions in the investigative file. It is not clear whether some cases in Africa are logged in SAPRO data as AFRICOM does not track sexual assaults. The Pentagon also declined to clarify or provide raw data. Santiago, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, said that the Pentagon had not been able to interview a representative from SAPRO. This was more than two years after Type Investigations and The Intercept first asked. The soldier, who was part of the U.S. response in West Africa to Ebola, left a dinner party with her co-workers on February 13, 2015 to return to her hotel in Dakar, Senegal's capital. She was walking by a group young men when one grabbed her and drove her into an alley wall. One of them pulled her pants down. According to the file, the men laughed and seemed to be laughing while they groped her and digitally penetrated her. Although she could not recall the details of the second part of the attack, the woman believed that she was also gang raped. The AFRICOM files contain a copy the Army criminal investigation report that details the allegations. However, Senegal is not listed in the Pentagon's annual reports on sexual violence from 2010 to 2020. U.S. According to Manley, an AFRICOM spokesperson, Africa Command does not have any record of such allegations. The AFRICOM files show how the military can discourage victims of sexual assault from bringing forward their claims. According to AFRICOM files, survivors of sexual assault felt reluctant or afraid of helping investigations, pressured into changing their accounts and constrained by their chains of command. Many believed they wouldn't be believed, and doubted that reporting an attack would result in a positive outcome. Others were dismissed, laughed at, accused of exaggerating or accused of lying by leaders about their abuse. According to Amy Braley Franck (Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program Manager for U.S. Army Africa, 2015-2018), women are often treated as if they were the problem. Because the system isn't working properly, they aren't taken care of. There is no oversight.Women are often treated as if they're the problem. Because the system isn't working properly, they aren't taken care of.Reporting a sexual assault to the military is not easy, even for those who live at the most resourced U.S. base in Africa. Braley Franck said that the Navy SHARP office in Djibouti is supposed to have a full time staff member at the camp. Sometimes they do, sometimes not. I tried several times to reach their hotline to find someone to care for a service member. They did not answer my repeated calls. A soldier, who claimed she was sexually assaulted in Africa while on deployment, spoke out to The Intercept and Type Investigations under the condition that her identity would not be revealed. She said that she did not know how to find SHARP personnel on her base or military criminal investigators. It seems so simple to call a SHARP representative, or CID. But it is not. Another problem that plagues the military is the inability of military leaders to address sexual assault seriously. She reported that she was assaulted. However, her superiors dismissed her allegations. Army investigators confirmed her claims. It wasn't her first experience with such an assault. She spoke out about a previous assault and said that she was frustrated with the process of seeking justice. She said that she learned the truth about the incident and was informed by the defense that they would be able change it. These experiences made her angry at her superiors and skeptical about the military justice system. She said that she had experienced so many negative things when she did the right thing. It made her nervous about what might happen if she did it again. The leadership isn't taking responsibility. You must stop soldiers who are acting in a perverse way or are abusing others. Leadership sees it as "Not my business." It's not my problem.Marines at Camp Lemonnier are waiting to take their place during the Marine Corps Birthday Ceremony, held aboard Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti (Africa), Nov. 10, 2010. Photo by U.S. Marines/Dvids
