Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld are being accused of turning a blind eye to sexual harassment charges against women in the military, and they are now being sued. Seventeen current and former members of the military claim that this behavior by the Pentagon led to violence against women being tolerated. This meant that their Constitutional rights were violated. Jesse Ellison, writer and editor for Newsweek, and the author of blog Equality Myth, has the details of this lawsuit. One of those 17 plaintiffs is Rebekah Havrilla, who is a former Army sergeant and explosive-ordnance-disposal technician, who says she was the target of multiple sexual harassments and was even raped, during her time in service.
Greg Jacob is a former infantry captain; one of his roles was in charge of investigating sexual misconduct. He is now policy director for the Service Women’s Action Network. He says when sexual harassment complaints were brought to him to deal with, he was not qualified to handle them.