Kaine Presses Air Force Officials in Wake of Arlington Sexual Battery Case

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., pressed U.S. Air Force officials at a hearing Tuesday about sexual assault in the military, specifically noting the recent arrest of Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski.

Krusinski, a 41-year-old Arlington resident who works at the Pentagon, was removed from his position as chief of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Branch on Monday. Arlington County police early Sunday charged him with sexual battery after a woman said he fondled her breasts and buttocks in a Crystal City parking lot.

“I just worry about the effects of this,” Kaine said. “There are all sorts of today effects of this event when someone is charged — particularly when a person overseeing a program to deal with victims of sexual assault is in fact, charged.

"But I worry as much about the tomorrow effects. I worry about the tomorrow effects on women who are thinking of making military careers. … I also worry about those women in the program who don’t commission but go into the civilian world, maybe with more of a concern that if this happens at the top echelon of the military leadership then it can happen in the civilian world as well.”

For active-duty servicewomen, the number of "unwanted sexual contact" increased from 19,300 cases in 2010 to 26,000 last year — a 6.1 percent increase, according to Kaine's office.

The Pentagon is expected to release a report later today that indicates about 70 sexual assaults involving military personnel happen every day, according to the Huffington Post.

Of those, only one in six are officially reported, and only one in 10 go to trial, according to Kaine's office.

“The stakes on this one are enormously high,” Kaine said at the hearing. “We need to worry about the morale of tomorrow’s military leaders and in that context I’m quite concerned.”

More:

Sexual Battery Case Against Air Force Colonel Will Be Prosecuted in Arlington

Air Force Sex Assault Prevention Chief Charged With Sexual Battery