Panel faults oversight of Air Force Academy

Air Force oversight of its academy has been inconsistent for several years, members of an independent panel investigating sexual misconduct at the Colorado Springs, Colo., institution said Friday.

"There has been no consistent oversight of the academy by the Air Force or the Pentagon over a period of years," said former Rep. Tillie Fowler, R-Fla., who heads the panel, at the group's last public meeting Friday.

The Air Force chief of staff, currently Gen. John Jumper, has direct oversight responsibility for the academy, but there is no intermediate authority between him and the academy's superintendent, which makes it difficult for the agency to give the school sufficient attention, according to the panel.

Josiah Bunting, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute and a panel member, criticized the Air Force's "spasmodic" attention to the academy over the last decade, but took issue with the structure of the oversight, rather than the actions of individuals.

"The day after he [Jumper] became chief of staff was 9/11," Bunting noted. "I think that illustrates the great challenges and problems that you have with the chief of staff having direct oversight of one of these academies . . . his energies and efforts can be pulled away for a thousand reasons at any time. So we do not take direct issue with the nature of the oversight so much as we do with the way the offices are set up to take responsibility for the way the Air Force Academy operates," he said.

Bunting recommended having someone in the Air Force chief of staff's office act as a liaison between the chief of staff and the academy superintendent. That person, he said, should be "somebody who has direct access to Gen. Jumper, who sees him often, and should also be talking frequently to the Air Force Academy." Bunting also said that the Air Force should consider assigning a general officer the responsibility to look at the issue of sexual misconduct at the Air Force Academy until the situation at the school improves.

Fowler praised Congress' oversight of the academy and the Defense Department inspector general's investigation of allegations of misconduct. The fiscal 2004 Defense authorization bill contains a provision that would give the House and Senate Armed Services Committees greater oversight of all the military academies.

On Friday, the panel also discussed disturbing trends that emerged from surveys of cadets over the past five years. According to the panel, results of cadet surveys from 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002 showed "problematic" levels of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination; a reluctance to confront or report harassment and discrimination; a reluctance to deal with illegal alcohol consumption; and male cadets' objection to women's presence.

"Some messages came out [of those surveys] that seemed to be ignored," Fowler said. The academy has questioned the validity of the survey data, but the school "had enough information to do something about it," said panel member Laura Miller, a social scientist at RAND.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bunting emphasized the importance of accountability at the academy. "The Air Force Academy is a national, tax-funded institution; it's not a private university. And we have every right to hold them to account to get their house in order. They answer to us as American citizens."

The panel will release its final report on Sept. 22.