Kirsten Gillibrand

Pass cyber legislation that enables two-way, real-time information-sharing among and between private and public entities.

Once that study is done, will you come back and update us on its findings?

What more can you tell me about the study being jointly sponsored by the Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO) and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) to better understand the prevalence of suicide risk among…

I believe DOD goes through every case to try to understand what happened and what could have been done to prevent each suicide.

I know that the Army has worked to create specialized training for sexual assault investigators to ensure they are not traumatizing victims during interviews.

Dr. McCutcheon, you stated that these MST coordinators are the single point of contact for every veteran who screens positive for MST.

I trust your commitment, and I am grateful for that commitment because you are the difference between men and women receiving the care they need and not.

I am extremely grateful for the hard work you are doing.

No one is actually suggesting commanders become less involved, and, in fact, when they do so, they actually distort the debate.

I agree that we have to set a climate of dignity and be more involved, not less involved for commanders.

Dr. Guice, is connecting the survivors to VA services part of the mandate of this program? If so, how? If not, why?

When sexual assault survivors are still actively receiving behavioral health care at the time of separation from the Service, they are linked to the DOD inTransition Program to help ensure that continuity of care is maintained.

We are not done by any means. We are very cognizant that we have a lot more work to do.

So that is a huge increase for people who were assaulted before they joined the military.

We have some information. I think this is for Dr. Guice. SAPRO gave us some new numbers...

Dr. Guice and Dr. McCutcheon, are there gaps in the hand-off between DOD and VA?

How do DOD and VA currently transition servicemembers who have been sexually assaulted?

The purpose is to instill confidence by the victims.

It is also that it is decided as a family matter, and the person deciding has to decide between two children that they both deeply love.

I am sad to say I have been disappointed. Both departments are in fundamentally the same places they were 1 year ago.

Dr. McCutcheon and Dr. Bell, do you believe there should be different treatment programs for male and female survivors?

It is crucial for VA and others to continue expanding the research base on how gender shapes reactions to and recovery from MST.

The VA has sponsored significant research on the links between sexual assault and harassment, PTSD, and suicide.

But to follow on, isn't the betrayal also that they have to tell their dad, or their dad is the decisionmaker.

Many of these same survivors have said that after the assault, they still wanted to stay in the military.