--- title: Sexual Assault: Bipartisan Push for Military Procedure Overhaul description: Former chief prosecutor of the Air Force joins senators in fight to limit the role of commanders in sex assault cases canonical: https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/ author: Per Liljas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-03T07:06:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:31:36.585Z article:section: Politics og:title: Military Sex Assault Bill Gains Traction og:description: Former Air Force chief prosecutor urges limiting role of commanders in pursuing prosecutions og:url: https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt466c0bb25f3539d7/69876c478e06013188458f63/459830844.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Senators Hold Briefing To Propose An Independent Military Justice System og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Military Sex Assault Bill Gains Traction twitter:description: Former Air Force chief prosecutor urges limiting role of commanders in pursuing prosecutions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt466c0bb25f3539d7/69876c478e06013188458f63/459830844.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bipartisan Push for Military to Improve Handling of Sex-Assault Cases > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Dec 3, 2014 7:06 AM UTC  U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (2nd R) speaks during a news conference on changing the military justice system, as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (L), U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) (2ndL) and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (R) listen December 2, 2014 in Washington, DC. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (2nd R) speaks during a news conference on changing the military justice system, as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (L), U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) (2ndL) and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (R) listen December 2, 2014 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson — Getty Images by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Dec 3, 2014 7:06 AM UTC The former chief prosecutor of the Air Force has [thrown his weight](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/02/gillibrand-military-sex-assaults/19789269/) behind Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s second push to change how the military handles sexual assault allegations. Retired Col. Don Christensen joined a bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, to support Gillibrand at a news conference Tuesday, reports _USA Today_. “The reality is, the commanders cannot solve this problem because too often they are the enablers,” said Christensen, who quit the Air Force in September after concluding that it was impossible to change the service from within. The bill would prevent commanders from playing a part in choosing which sexual assault cases will lead to prosecution. Introduced in the Senate earlier this year, the bill was five votes short of getting passed. Gillibrand says she hopes Christensen’s advocacy and the lack of significant improvements by the military over recent months will persuade senators to switch position. A new version of the bill could arrive at House and Senate floors this week. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/02/gillibrand-military-sex-assaults/19789269/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/"},"headline":"Bipartisan Push for Military to Improve Handling of Sex-Assault Cases","datePublished":"2014-12-03T07:06:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:31:36.585Z","description":"The bill needed only five more votes last time","url":"https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/","keywords":["Military","Congress","Law"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt466c0bb25f3539d7/69876c478e06013188458f63/459830844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt466c0bb25f3539d7/69876c478e06013188458f63/459830844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senators Hold Briefing To Propose An Independent Military Justice System","caption":"Senators Hold Briefing To Propose An Independent Military Justice System","creditText":"Mark Wilson — Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3615627/military-justice-improvement-act-sexual-assault/","name":"Bipartisan Push for Military to Improve Handling of Sex-Assault Cases"}}]}] ```