WEBVTT

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Hello , I'm Lloyd Austin , the

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secretary of Defense since my first day

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as secretary , one of my top priorities

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has been tackling the scourge of sexual

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assault and sexual harassment in the US

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military . We stand with the survivors .

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All of our teammates deserved to be

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safe and the only acceptable number of

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sexual assaults . It's zero .

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The department has done a lot of

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important work over the past three

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years to keep all of our teammates safe

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and to bring perpetrators to justice .

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We set up the new offices of Special

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Trial Counsel within the services and

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they have been fully operational since

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December 2023 . Now , these key

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officers take the prosecution of sexual

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assault and other major crimes out of

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the chain of command for greater rigor

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and expertise . These important cases

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are handled by specially trained and

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independent attorneys . We're also

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implementing the approved

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recommendations from the thoughtful

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independent review commission on sexual

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assault in the military that I stood up

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three years ago . We've also created

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the integrated primary prevention

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workforce which takes a 360 degree

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approach to preventing dangerous

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behavior throughout the department .

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And we're also putting more funding

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than ever behind this mission . So

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we've accomplished a lot , but you know ,

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we still have more to do now .

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April is Sexual Assault Awareness and

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prevention month and no matter your

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rank or title , each of us has a

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responsibility to build a safe

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professional work environment free of

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abuse and assault . We owe it to

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all of our troops to get this right .

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Thanks for watching .