Military Justice System Still Questioned

July 8, 2026

Line of soldiers in camouflage uniforms standing in formation

Even after the Pentagon’s “historic” sexual assault reforms, a leading military sexual abuse attorney says survivors are still at risk inside a system that protects careers and institutions first.

Story Snapshot

Recent laws moved many sexual assault cases from commanders to independent prosecutors, but critics say core problems remain.
Attorney Kayla Ferrel Onder reports ongoing investigative failures and command influence that leave survivors exposed.
Decades of data show military sexual assault is driven by deep culture and power imbalances, not just bad procedures.
A new bipartisan bill would finally let troops sue the government over sexual assault when the system fails them.

Big Promises: What the New Military Reforms Actually Changed

Members of Congress and Pentagon leaders have marketed the latest sexual assault reforms as a major fix to a broken system. The National Defense Authorization Act for 2022 forced each service to create an Office of Special Trial Counsel, run by independent military prosecutors who answer to the service secretary, not local commanders. These prosecutors now decide whether to bring many serious cases, including rape and sexual assault, and their decisions are binding on commanders. Supporters say this is the biggest shift in military justice since 1950, finally taking prosecution power away from the chain of command in key crimes.

Along with new prosecutors, recent executive orders changed how courts-martial work and aimed to make sentencing more fair. Judges, not commanders, now control what evidence and witnesses are allowed at trial, and juries are chosen through questioning by both sides, similar to civilian courts. The reforms also made retaliation against survivors a criminal offense and required the Department of Defense to track alleged retaliation. Official reports show some decline in sexual assault prevalence since 2023, which reform advocates cite as proof that change is finally taking hold.

On-the-Ground Reality: Why a Survivor-Attorney Says Reforms Are Not Enough

Kayla Ferrel Onder, a military sexual abuse attorney who is herself a survivor, argues these reforms do not fix what survivors actually face. In a detailed video aimed at service members, she describes case files where investigators ask leading questions, ignore answers that could clear the accused, and fail to gather basic digital evidence such as text messages. She warns that Article 120 sexual assault charges can end a service member’s career and reputation forever, so sloppy investigations harm everyone involved. Her experience leading “Kayla’s Survivors” for more than a decade has shown her patterns of fear, bias, and command involvement that paperwork reforms alone cannot erase.

Onder says military sexual abuse cases are rarely simple “he said, she said” stories; they are tangled in friendship circles, rank, and command politics. She points to bitter friend dynamics, pressure from leaders, and loyalty to units as forces that shape how accusations are made, investigated, and judged. Even with independent prosecutors on paper, defense lawyers and commanders still have strong incentives to protect careers, reputations, and the institution’s image. For survivors, that means they may still fear they will be doubted, blamed, or quietly punished for speaking up, despite the promised protections.

Deep Culture Problems: A System That Both Parties Say Is Failing Troops

Independent research backs up the idea that rules alone cannot fix the deeper culture that makes military sexual assault so hard to address. Studies over the last three decades show service members face unique barriers to reporting abuse, including fear of retaliation, loss of unit trust, damage to careers, and disbelief by leaders. One analysis found actual sexual assault prevalence may be two to four times higher than official government estimates, suggesting many assaults never enter the system at all. Advocacy groups trace a long history of reforms that tweak processes but leave power structures and attitudes mostly intact.

That story fits the wider mood in the country. Many conservatives and liberals now agree that powerful institutions in Washington protect themselves first, while ordinary people pay the price. When an active-duty woman or man risks everything to report sexual assault, they step into a machine run by commanders, lawyers, and bureaucrats whose jobs and reputations are on the line. Survivors see officers who rotate out, political appointees who come and go, and programs that change names every few years, while they live with trauma for life. This looks a lot like the “deep state” frustration that both left and right share: systems that talk about values but rarely deliver real justice.

Signs of Progress, Signs of Backsliding: Why Trust Is Still Weak

To be fair, some data suggest reforms are helping in certain ways. The Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military reported a decline in sexual assault rates across services in 2023 and pushed the Pentagon to hire more than two thousand prevention specialists, including psychologists, to work on climate and culture. Prevention experts are now being stationed on bases and ships to address harassment, domestic abuse, and suicide alongside sexual assault, reflecting a more holistic approach. These steps show that leaders recognize the problem is bigger than any single policy and that culture change takes years.

At the same time, other moves cast doubt on how serious top leaders really are. Advocates warn that the Trump–Hegseth agenda to roll back congressionally mandated prevention programs and survivor protections could undo recent gains and chill reporting again. Representative Sarah Elfreth recently called out a reversal of a Department of Defense rape kit policy that could harm evidence preservation, raising fears that leadership is quietly weakening safeguards. In response to long-standing limits on legal options, a bipartisan group of senators has now proposed the Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act, which would finally let troops sue the government when it fails to prevent or properly investigate sexual assault and harassment. When lawmakers from both parties feel they must go around the Pentagon to give troops a path to justice, it underscores how little trust remains in the system itself.