Senators have ordered an independent investigation of how the Defense Department has handled sexual violence among children who live and go to school on military bases worldwide.
The demand is part of legislation that would overhaul how the Pentagon responds when service members’ children sexually assault each other.
Pentagon officials had quietly resisted a review by the department’s independent inspector general of problems documented in an Associated Press investigation . That reporting showed broad failures to help victims or hold offenders accountable.
The Senate Armed Services Committee passed bipartisan proposals Thursday both to fix gaps in juvenile justice and protect student victims at Pentagon-run schools.
The panel also directed the inspector general to investigate – a request Defense Secretary James Mattis had resisted.
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