Roche: Academy problems are a 'corporate responsibility'

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott
  • Air Force Print News
Citing policies that were "clearly not smart," the Air Force's senior official acknowledged March 6 the service has a corporate responsibility for the barrage of sexual assault charges filed at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James G. Roche told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the service allowed budget and manpower restrictions to adversely affect management decisions.

"We gave up on a year of advanced education for counseling of senior staff officers in how to deal with this sort of situation. That clearly was not smart." Further, Roche said, "We did not make good use of our superlative noncommissioned officers ... so they could help.

"That's not the fault of the people there, it's a corporate responsibility," he said.

According to Roche's Feb. 27 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, a three-pronged investigation is looking into the charges of rape and sexual assault at the Academy.

An Air Force working group, led by Air Force General Counsel Mary Walker, is examining how the service deals with sexual assault in its officer training programs, while the Department of Defense's inspector general and the undersecretary of defense for personnel and programs head two other investigations.

Roche expects to implement major policy changes in the coming months before the arrival of the new class of cadets, including 218 women, in June.

"We are learning enough to realize that change must occur," he said. "(There must be a) change in climate, how we manage the place, and how we lead.

"We will make changes that will come out by the end of March," he said. "We have to make sure that new cadets' families believe those cadets are safe.

"We also have 3,400 male cadets, and we have (to) make sure their parents understand that an accusation is not a conviction," Roche said. "Due process will always be maintained."

While the male cadets will be afforded due process, Roche said he and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper plan to make life difficult for anyone who contemplates sexual assault.

"Zero tolerance, to me, doesn't capture the specifics of what these young men need to know," he said. "We want to go further.

"We will not tolerate any cadet who sexually assaults another. We cannot tolerate a cadet who harbors one who has, nor a cadet who is present and allows it to go on and doesn't do something about it. And especially," he said, "we will not tolerate a cadet who harasses or shuns a cadet who has the courage to come forward."

While, statistically, the academy has fewer instances of sexual assault than other universities in the country, Roche said that is not good enough.

"Whatever the number is, there's probably another hundred that hasn't been reported," he said. "A woman joining the Air Force Academy should feel better protected than a woman going to a university.

"What frightens me most is the climate is affecting so many who have not come forward," he said.

Roche said he and Jumper are adamant that changes will be made.

"We will do whatever we have to do with regards to administration of the academy," he said. "We cannot bear the thought of a criminal being commissioned and flying around with a couple thousand pounds of bombs under his wings.

"I don't want them to think they can get away with this, so there's something they can get away with later on," he said.

Further, Roche said, "We can't have our female cadets know there's a criminal who's making it through the academy, because when they go on to active duty, we want (them) to worry about the Air Force mission, not fear that the same bum will show up again."