Biden took the step after it was included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

A provision in the NDAA required that the President take this step to make sexual harassment an “offense punishable,” in the Uniform Code of Military Justice within 30 days of the bill becoming law. Biden signed that bill into law at the end of December.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this change was a “key recommendation” from the Defense Department’s Independent Review Commission on Military Sexual Assault. The commission released about 80 recommendations to reform the military justice system’s handling of these issues in 2021. The Pentagon said they would implement all of the recommendations in September. Continue Reading