“Think about it: If you have a predator, if you have a rapist serving in uniform, you don't deal with it by keeping a woman out of their unit because that predator is going to go assault someone else,” Sen. Martha McSally said on "CBS This Morning." | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Congress McSally says sexual assault in the military threatens national security

Sen. Martha McSally said Thursday that sexual assault within the military constitutes a national security threat, a warning delivered in an interview that aired one day after she said during a Senate hearing that she had been raped by a superior while serving in the Air Force.

Asked by "CBS This Morning" anchor Norah O'Donnell whether she considered the prevalence of sexual assault in the military a threat to national security, McSally (R-Ariz.) answered “I do.” But she said critics who assume the issue could be solved by keeping women out of the military or separate from men are misidentifying the issue.


“Think about it: If you have a predator, if you have a rapist serving in uniform, you don't deal with it by keeping a woman out of their unit because that predator is going to go assault someone else,” she said.

McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, said on Wednesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the issue that she didn’t report the assault because she distrusted the system and that the attack made her consider leaving the military altogether. The Arizona senator did not identify the man she said raped her.

“I stayed silent for many years, but later in my career, as the military grappled with the scandals and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know I too was a survivor,” she said at the hearing.

The Arizona freshman added that she was horrified at how her attempts to share her story were handled and said she “felt like the system was raping me all over again.”

In the interview, McSally said her decision to share her story dredged up the “very real memories and the realities of it all” but that she was glad she shared her story.

“It isn't about me,” she said. “I wanted to give a perspective of why I am advocating so strongly for women in the military and why I am advocating that the command chain has to step up and do their job to rid us of sexual assault.”

The Air Force said Wednesday it was “appalled and deeply sorry” about what McSally experienced and reiterated its “commitment to eliminate this reprehensible behavior and breach of trust in our ranks.”

“The criminal actions reported today by Senator McSally violate every part of what it means to be an Airman,” a spokesperson said in a statement to the media.