In light of Obama’s commencement address to Naval Academy graduates on Friday, which addressed sexual assault in the military, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that the sexual assault “scourge must be stamped out.”
At the graduation ceremony on Saturday, Hagel was applauded for saying “These crimes have no place – no place – in the greatest military on earth,” according to Politco.
Hagel’s speech at West Point and Obama’s at the Naval Academy are a result of multiple recent incidents of sexual assault in every branch of the military and a new report that demonstrates that the problem of sexual assault in the military is increasing, according to the Huffington Post.
“Sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are a profound betrayal — a profound betrayal — of sacred oaths and sacred trusts,” said Hagel, according to the Washington Post.
The issue has recently been a top priority for government officials. Hagel and the Pentagon’s top leaders have been working on how to address the rising number of incidents.
Multiple members of Congress have also brainstormed and offered various legislative proposals to combat the problem.
Hagel encouraged the cadets to be proactive: “Other threats to the health and the quality of the all-volunteer force are increasing – alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and mental illness, sexual harassment and sexual assault. You will need to not just deal with these debilitating, insidious and destructive forces but rather be you must be the generation of leaders that stop it.”