§1599j Restricted Reports of Incidents of Adult Sexual Assault

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may let a civilian Department of Defense employee make a restricted report of an alleged adult sexual assault to a designated advocate so the employee can get information and access to DoD victim support services. The person who can take that report is someone who does victim-advocate work in programs like sexual assault prevention, victim advocacy, equal employment opportunity, workplace violence prevention, employee assistance, family advocacy, or any other program the Secretary chooses. Unless the Secretary decides disclosure is needed to prevent or reduce a serious and imminent safety threat to the reporter or someone else, a restricted report must not be shared with the employee’s supervisor or other managers and must not start a Federal civil or criminal investigation. Getting a restricted report does not count as the Department of Defense having knowledge of the alleged assault for any purpose. “Civilian employee” means the term “employee” in section 2105 of title 5. “Sexual assault” has the meaning in section 920 of this title (article 120 of the UCMJ) and includes penetrative and sexual contact offenses.