UNDER WRAPS

Pentagon Withholding Report Ranking Bases’ Sex-Assault Risks

Was due to be released months ago.

The Pentagon is delaying the release of a report that rates the risk of sexual assault for troops by military base, according to Defense Department officials. The report—compiled by the nonpartisan RAND Corp.—used surveys of troops and data from 2014 for its findings and it was supposed to have been released months ago. Military officials claim the delay is due to concerns they have about the report’s methodology—but advocates for troops subjected to sexual assault say the Pentagon wants to kill the report because officials don’t like its conclusions. “Estimating risk for a large number of military installations worldwide requires some complex statistical analysis, and RAND’s 2014 military survey was not designed with this task in mind,” said Air Force Maj. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman. “We are working with RAND to better understand and validate its statistical methods used.” Don Christensen, an advocate for victims of sexual assault in the military, said “it’s disturbing the Pentagon would hire a reputable firm like RAND and then seek to bury the results because the brass know the numbers make them look bad.”