Remarks by Congresswoman Sara Jacobs at Fort Hood
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, spoke today at a press conference at Fort Hood, Texas, on the military’s response to sexual assault, harassment, and other military personnel issues, including housing. The press conference followed a bipartisan congressional delegation trip to Fort Hood led by Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
This three-day visit was part of the investigation into the Army’s failed response to the murder of SPC Vanessa Guillen, the deaths of PV2 Gregory Wedel Morales and SGT Elder Fernandes, and overarching persistent and dangerous culture at the base.
In their December 2020 report, the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee found that the command climate at Fort Hood was permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault, that the Army Criminal Investigation Division detachment was under-experienced and under-resourced, and that sexual assault prevention and response programs were structurally flawed.
Video of the press conference is available here.
Remarks by Congresswoman Sara Jacobs were as follows:
Well hello everybody and thank you Chair Speier for leading this trip and allowing me to come and thank you to my colleagues for all the work that you've been doing on this issue.
My name is Sara Jacobs, I represent California 53rd Congressional District in San Diego, a proud military community, one of the biggest in the country, and home to the Pacific fleet.
And I'll be honest with you, I hear from parents and family members all the time worried about whether their loved one in the military is safe.
Except they're not worried about what's happening overseas, they're worried if they're going to be safe in their barracks.
I hear from people all the time who are wondering if it's right or safe to even recommend to the young people in their lives to join the military.
And that's why I felt like it was so important for me to come here to Fort Hood, to listen to service members, to see the progress that's been made.
And I'll be honest with you, we still have a lot of work to do.
We have a lot of work to do to make sure that any service member can serve without fear of sexual assault or harassment.
We have a lot of work to do to make sure that no service member is ever failed the way that the system failed Vanessa Guillen.
And we have a lot of work to do before we can look a mother in their eyes and tell them that their child will be safe and protected and respected and cared for in our Armed Services.
But I have been very heartened by the progress that I've seen here.
It's clear that leadership is taking this issue seriously.
They are trying innovative programs to address this problem.
And now the trick is to make sure that we sustain those programs, that we deepen them, and that we scale them across the Army and across the services.
I'm really looking forward to working with my colleagues towards that end because we owe our service members who serve honorably, who are serving our country, nothing less.
Thank you so much. And now I will introduce my colleague Sylvia Garcia.