WASHINGTON – Pentagon spending on sexual assault prevention and response programs has quadrupled since 2008, according to figures released by the Defense Department.

Whether that investment has paid dividends depends on where you stand:

Pentagon officials point to a long-term trend of lower estimates of sexual assaults in the ranks over the last decade.

Critics of the military's approach to prevention, however, note that the Pentagon's report on sexual assault released recently showed a nearly 38% increase in the estimated number of sexual assaults between 2016 and 2018 – the latest period available. There were an estimated 20,500 assaults in 2018.

“I am deeply disturbed by the results of this year’s survey on sexual assault in the military," said Rep. Jackie Speier, the California Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee's panel on personnel. "Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars the Defense Department has spent on preventing and responding to sexual assaults over the last decade, more sexual assaults occurred in fiscal year 2018 than fiscal year 2010. The number of assaults jumped 37% from two years ago."

Speier called for Congress to force the Pentagon to take more aggressive steps to curb sexual assault among troops.

Pentagon officials credit the total $192 million investment over time for an increase in troops reporting such crimes and seeking help.

Spending increased from $4.9 million in 2008 to $23.2 million in 2018 for the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. In addition, each of the armed services also funds programs to prevent, respond to and prosecute sexual assault cases.

Since 2006, there has been a reduction in the estimated number of sexual assaults when 34,000 troops reported some type of assault, ranging from groping to rape.

In 2016, the survey found that number had dropped to about 14,900, but it increased to 20,500 in the 2018 survey. Meanwhile, 32% of troops assaulted filed reports, up from 7% who filed in 2006.

"We see that as great progress," said Nathan Galbreath, deputy director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

The spending figures were released to USA TODAY and follow months of bad news on the issue of sexual assault.

Earlier this year, a report found that sexual assault at the military service academies rose nearly 50% last year.

And the Pentagon established a task force to combat assaults after Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., a retired Air Force pilot, announced during an Armed Forces committee meeting that she'd been raped while serving.

"Every case of sexual assault erodes readiness, lethality and the trust Americans have in our ability to carry out our mission," Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in an April 15 memo to all of the armed forces. "Zero tolerance is the only acceptable metric."

Spending for the Pentagon's sexual assault office spiked at $25 million in 2016 and the number of full-time employees more than doubled from seven in 2008 to 15 currently.

The Pentagon has an annual budget of $700 billion.

Galbreath credited the focus of senior military and civilian officials, beginning with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, for the progress in reducing the number of sexual assaults over time. But he cautioned that progress shown in recent years isn't guaranteed to continue.

"We’re going to have good years and bad years," Galbreath said.

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