Washington

Paula Coughlin exposed military sexual assault two decades ago. Now, the "Tailhook" whistleblower is leading a summer lobbying effort to sway senators to vote for a bill the Pentagon staunchly opposes.

Coughlin is drumming up support for legislation by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that would remove commanders from decision making in handling sexual assault cases and place that authority in the hands of trained military prosecutors.

"Survivors of this crisis have waited long enough," said Coughlin, leading a grassroots effort among military sexual victims to force a change in the armed forces that she said is long overdue.

The movement is gaining momentum, fueled in large part by scandals in all military services branches involving sexual assaults on female and male recruits, subordinates and other personnel.

Widespread sexual abuse of enlisted trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, where more than a dozen instructors have been charged or implicated in allegations of misconduct, shocked the Air Force.

And a report earlier this year by the San Antonio Express-News documented repeated cases of retaliation against assault victims, failure to provide legal and medical support for them and dismissal from the service after they reported abuse.

The Pentagon estimates that there were 26,000 sexual assaults in the military last year, but only 302 prosecutions resulted from complaints.

"There is a lack of trust in the system that has a chilling effect on reporting," Gillibrand said.

Her bill has support across the political spectrum, backed by liberals and conservatives alike, from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Although supporters say they are close to a 51-vote majority, the measure would need 60 votes to keep it from being blocked by a filibuster.

"Success is within sight," Blumenthal said, "whatever the threshold of votes required. A majority and even 60 votes are within our grasp."

The momentum behind the Gillibrand amendment is being watched closely at the Pentagon, which unveiled steps Thursday to crack down on sexual assaults without altering the commander's role in the process.

Congressional critics and victims' groups say the Pentagon measures are an attempt to blunt momentum of the Gillibrand bill and fall short of the needed structural changes.

Coughlin, the Navy lieutenant who blew the whistle after a 1991 conference for naval aviators at the Las Vegas Hilton, said Pentagon inaction and current procedures have failed to stop sexual assaults that seem to continue unabated.

Now an activist with Protect Our Defenders, Coughlin is leading the grassroots effort joined by as many as 500 assault survivors lobbying lawmakers to support the Gillibrand legislation.

"Support is building, but there are still senators that are undecided," Coughlin said.

Gillibrand said she expects a vote on her amendment as early as October.

She said the bipartisan coalition behind her amendment shows that creating "an independent and accountable military justice system is not a partisan or ideological issue."

It's neither a Democrat nor a Republican idea, Gillibrand said. "It is just the right idea."

Cruz said that despite the past efforts by military leaders to address the recurring incidents of attacks in the military ranks, "sexual assault remains a persistent problem."

The Texas senator said he was persuaded by Gillibrand that leaving the reporting of sexual crimes and a decision to prosecute within the chain of command "has proven in fact to deter reporting of the crime."

But Pentagon officials and key lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., argue that taking commanders out of the decision making process would weaken the military structure.

Levin said removing disciplinary authority to prosecute an offense from those commanders would "take away an important tool that they need to change a culture that surely needs change."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in a memo outlining the new Pentagon guidelines, said generals and admirals would now be notified of sexual assault allegations and be given status reports on prosecutions.

Closed cases would be forwarded to the Defense Department's Inspector General for review.

Congressional critics, however, said the new guidelines do not provide the major structural changes needed to ensure sexual assault cases are duly prosecuted to create a safer environment in the military ranks.

gmartin@express-news.net