Military commanders should be removed from the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults in the armed forces, Reps. Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman said.
"The system they have now has been ineffective," said Thompson, D-Napa, a Vietnam war combat veteran with the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Thompson, whose district includes Santa Rosa, said he has talked to many female veterans "who have been victims of these terrible crimes."
"One is too many," he said.
Thompson and Huffman are among the 145 co-sponsors -- all but one Democrats -- of a bill by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, that would remove the military chain of command from handling sex crimes.
President Barack Obama has called the prevalence of military sex assaults "shameful and disgraceful," and Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's top commander, described it as a "cancer within the force" last week in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
But military leaders rebuffed New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's proposal to turn sex crimes over to independent military prosectors, similar to a provision in Speier's bill, which is called the STOP Act.
The Pentagon said last month that there were 26,000 incidents of sexual assault in 2012 but only 3,374 were reported, leading critics and military officials to the conclusion that many victims feared retaliation for reporting the crimes.
"The military itself admits the problem," said Huffman, D-San Rafael, who represents the North Coast in Congress.
Speier's bill would insulate sex crimes prosecution from the "pressures, biases and dysfunction of the military chain of command," he said.
"They're just not up to it," Huffman said. "It's really time to get them out of the way."
On Friday, the Army said that a two-star general who commands forces in Japan had been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault.
Steve Countouriotis of Petaluma, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served served two tours in Afghanistan and two in Iraq, said he agreed with the generals who testified last week.
"Without reservation, I think it needs to be the commanding officer (who is responsible for criminal prosecution)," said Countouriotis, whose daughter and two sons served in the military.
Maintaining "good order and discipline" is, in all respects, a commander's responsibility, he said.
Countouriotis acknowledged the volatility of the sex assault issue, and said the military must maintain "zero tolerance" for it.
"Absolutely," he said. "There's no place for it in the military."
Women make up about 15 percent, or 202,400, of the military's 1.4 million active personnel, the Pentagon said in January. More than 280,000 women have deployed in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade, it said.
During his tour in Vietnam, Thompson said, the only servicewomen he saw were assigned to the hospital and he wasn't aware of any incidents of sexual assault at the time.
But women are now allowed to serve in combat, and Thompson said the sex assault scandal is "a very sad chapter in the history of the military."
Speier's office said the STOP Act is expected to reach the House floor this week.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: