Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) have sent a letter to House Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to urge that the committee hold a hearing to look into “recruiter improprieties, including sexual harassment and assault by military recruiters on recruits and potential enlistees.” They referred to an Associated Press news report earlier this summer that more than 80 recruiters from all branches had been disciplined in 2005 and a recent Government Accountability Report criticizing DOD for its lack of recruiting oversight. Skelton and Snyder noted that the “majority of military recruiters are doing a tremendous job.”
Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Pentagon, spent his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 19 pressing his civilian bona fides to lawmakers, with some pledging opposition to the waiver Austin would need to become the nation’s first Black Defense Secretary. Austin spent 40 years in the military…