Sen. Martha McSally said she did not report being sexually assaulted because she did not trust the system, and she said she was ashamed and confused. Congress McSally says she was raped in the Air Force by a superior officer

Sen. Martha McSally, a 26-year military veteran, said Wednesday that she was raped in the Air Force by a superior officer.

The Arizona Republican spoke at a Senate hearing on the armed services’ prevention of and response to sexual assault, an issue she called “deeply personal.”


McSally did not name the officer who she says raped her, and said she did not report the incident because she was ashamed and confused, and felt powerless.

“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. “I was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences was handled. I almost separated from the Air Force at 18 years of service over my despair. Like many victims, I felt like the system was raping me all over again.”

When McSally entered the Air Force Academy, a member of the ninth class to include women, sexual assault and harassment were prevalent and often unaddressed, she said Wednesday. And though significant progress had been made in the time since — including more than 100 legislative actions to address military sexual assault — McSally said there was much more to be done.

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The senator’s disclosure comes at a time when more voices — including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a veteran who said in an interview this year that she was sexually assaulted in college — seem to be calling for new ways to address reports of sexual assaults in the armed services.

Discussions of sexual assault and harassment in the armed services have become part of larger debates on Capitol Hill in the past year. McSally has previously spoken about being sexually harassed as the first woman fighter pilot in the Air Force and told The Wall Street Journal she was sexually abused by a coach in high school.

“I share the disgust of the failures of the military system and many commanders who failed in their responsibilities,” McSally said Wednesday. “But it is for this very reason that we must allow — we must demand — that commanders stay at the center of the solution and live up to the moral and legal responsibilities that come with being a commander.”

The public must demand that higher-ranking officials be part of the solution and, when necessary, held “harshly accountable” when they fail their duties, she added.

“We cannot command change from the outside alone — it must be deployed within,” McSally said. “It must be built, constantly maintained and expertly managed by commanders who are themselves educated, conditioned and given the tools to ensure what you survived — and what I survived — happens to no warrior under their command.”