"It is abundantly clear that the military cannot adequately handle its sexual violence crisis from within. It is a crying shame that senior enlisted leaders and senior officers who have been tasked to prevent and respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment are themselves predators. If military culture is to transform in any meaningful way, we need to break down the doors of silence and make sure our troops who are harmed have access to the same legal remedies as all civilians whom they protect and defend. We can start by ensuring that military crimes are no longer handled by commanding officers, but rather by impartial attorneys and judges. "

SWAN is a national nonpartisan civil rights organization founded and led by women veterans. SWAN’s mission is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without discrimination, harassment or assault; and to reform veterans’ services to ensure high quality health care and benefits for women veterans and their families. You can follow Service Women’s Action Network on Twitter at http://twitter.com/servicewomen, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/servicewomen.