Servicewomen Tell Panel of Sex Harassment

Navy Lt. Darlene Simmons was at sea a few days on the submarine tender Canopus when she started getting suggestive notes from her supervisor, a Navy lieutenant commander.

“He repeatedly commented about my physical appearance, such as, ‘That uniform does not show your body in a just light,’ ” Simmons told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. The notes were only the beginning of an ordeal that included Simmons being locked up in a psychiatric ward and ended without a sexual harassment conviction.

Simmons and three other women representing each of the military services told the committee of unpunished sexual harassment ranging from unwanted kisses to verbal abuse during basic training.

In emotionally charged testimony the women said their complaints met with shrugs or outright disdain from their superiors. Their own careers, rather than the careers of the alleged harassers, suffered, they said.

“I began my naval career on a fast track toward advancement,” said Simmons, who, as a Navy attorney, had investigated harassment complaints. “These events have completely derailed my ambitions. Despite the rhetoric, the Navy will not tolerate those who report sexual harassment.”

Simmons said she was told not to talk about the harassment, in order to save her supervisor from embarrassment. When she contacted Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.) about her situation, she was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination. She was found fit for duty but kept in a psychiatric unit for three days.

Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland), the committee chairman, questioned the Defense Department’s commitment to eliminating sexual harassment.

“Despite the frequent pronouncements by (the Department of Defense) and service officials of ‘zero tolerance,’ sexual harassment continues as a serious problem,” and Congress may need to “radically restructure” the military complaint system, Dellums said.

Later Wednesday, witnesses representing the Defense Department and military services outlined detailed policies and awareness programs designed to prevent or punish sexual harassment. Assistant Defense Secretary Edwin Dorn called the system basically sound.

“Commanders in the field still may not say loudly enough or often enough that sexual harassment will not be tolerated,” Dorn said. “Indeed, some egregious cases of sexual harassment have been handled incompetently and insensitively.”