Preventing Sexual Harassment

DOD Needs Greater Leadership Commitment and an Oversight Framework

Sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination that can jeopardize the military’s combat readiness and mission accomplishment by weakening interpersonal bonds and eroding unit cohesion. GAO was asked to examine the most current available data on sexual harassment in the military and to assess the Department of Defense’s (DOD) efforts to address this issue. GAO evaluated the extent to which DOD (1) has developed and implemented policies and programs to help prevent and address incidents of sexual harassment involving service members, (2) has visibility over the occurrence of sexual harassment involving service members, and (3) provides oversight of its policies and programs for addressing incidents of sexual harassment.

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