S.Amdt. 3888

SA 3888. Ms. MURKOWSKI submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2410, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2015 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place insert:

SEC. 2/32/3COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON SERIOUS MISCONDUCT WITHIN THE NATIONAL GUARD

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report evaluating the effectiveness of--

(1) the authorities of the Secretary of Defense and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to investigate and respond on their own initiative to allegations of serious misconduct, including but not limited to sexual assault, sexual harassment, violations of federal law, retaliation and waste, fraud and abuse arising in operations of the National Guard in Title 32 and Title 10 status.

(2) the mechanisms available to the Secretary of Defense, each of the Armed Services, and the Chief of the National Guard to receive, process and monitor the disposition of allegations of the nature referred to in subparagraph (1) whether first brought to the attention of the federal government or the Adjutant Generals.

(3) the process used to determine whether allegations of the nature referred to in subsection (1) are investigated by the Department of Defense, the Department of Defense Inspector General, the Inspector General of the National Guard Bureau, the Inspectors General of the Armed Services, the Office of Complex Investigations of the National Guard Bureau, federal military and civilian law enforcement agencies or other agencies in the first instance and the coordination of investigations among such agencies

(4) the monitoring of investigations into allegations of the nature referred to in subsection (1) by the Secretary of Defense, the Armed Services and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau which are undertaken by federal agencies and those undertaken under the direction of the Adjutant Generals.

(5) the process used for disposing of substantiated allegations whether by prosecution or administrative action and the consistency in the disposition of allegations of a similar nature across the National Guard

(6) state codes of military justice in prosecuting members of the National Guard for serious misconduct of the nature referred to in subparagraph (1) and an evaluation of whether the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be extended to authorize prosecution of some or all offenses committed by members of the National Guard while in Title 32 status

(7) mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of members of the National Guard who report allegations of serious misconduct of the nature referred to in subparagraph (1) and to prevent retaliation aganst such persons

(8) the National Guard Bureau in preventing and proactively identifying instances of serious misconduct of the nature referred to in subparagraph (1), including the availability and effectiveness of hotlines through which members of the National Guard who are uncomfortable reporting their concerns through state channels may bring them to the attention of the National Guard Bureau and the use of command climate surveys in identifying serious misconduct.