WASHINGTON — Ambitious legislation to stanch the growing reports of sexual assaults in the armed forces by overhauling the military justice system faces an uncertain future due to vigorous objections from Pentagon leaders and key members of Congress who are concerned the proposed changes go too far.
The bill crafted by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, cleared an important hurdle Tuesday when the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee that she chairs approved the measure. But the legislation must get through the full committee and its chairman, Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, has signaled he would offer an alternative that would mute the most aggressive changes.
Gillibrand's legislation would remove commanders from the process of deciding whether serious crimes, including sexual misconduct cases, go to trial. That judgment would rest instead with trial lawyers who have prosecutorial experience and hold the rank of colonel or above. Her bill would take away a commander's authority to convene a court-martial. That responsibility would be given to new and separate offices outside the victim's chain of command.
But Levin and other lawmakers, echoing fears voiced by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believe that cutting commanders out of the legal process would undermine their ability to enforce good order and discipline within the ranks.
''Commanders ought to have and use the tools that are the most effective in terms of changing climate and affecting the behavior of people in their units, and that's to have available to them the power to send to a court-martial,'' Levin said Monday.
The Armed Services Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to vote on the provisions, which would be included in a sweeping defense policy bill for the 2014 fiscal year.
Levin's alternative, which has bipartisan support, would require a review by an individual higher in the chain of command if a commander decides not to prosecute a sexual assault case. It would make it a crime to retaliate against victims who report a sexual assault and relieve commanders of their responsibilities if they do not create a climate receptive for victims who report crimes.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, the personnel subcommittee's top Republican, said commanders shouldn't be sidelined from sexual assault cases. He and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, both voted against Gillibrand's legislation, which the panel passed by voice vote.
''I don't think you quite resolve a problem in the military without the chain of command buying into it and being held more accountable,'' Graham said.
But frustration over the Defense Department's' failure so far to change the military's male-dominated culture and eradicate sexual assaults is driving support for substantive changes.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday at a separate hearing that Congress is considering stripping the military of its authority to prosecute sexual assault cases and shifting the responsibility to state prosecutors.
Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, told Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the status quo cannot continue.