The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will hear arguments this week on whether the Department of Defense can evade Freedom of Information Act requests on sexual assaults in the military. The Department argued that the requests were burdensome since they involved a large number of documents. The ACLU and other groups are seeking the documents to see how the military is dealing with sexual assaults. (American Civil Liberties Union, May 29, 2014, by Sandra S. Park)
The 2013 annual report on sexual assault in the armed services showed an increase of 50 percent indicating, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, that more victims are trusting the system enough to report assaults under new regulations and support services. (Stars and Stripes, May 2, 2014, by James Rosen of the McClatchy Washington Bureau with contributions from Michael Doyle)