Pentagon likely undercounted military sexual assaults, university researchers say

The Pentagon has likely undercounted the number of sexual assaults in the military, with cases much higher than official estimates, according to new research from Brown University’s Costs of War Project.

Researchers looked at Defense Department data from 2001, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, to 2023, and found levels were two to four times higher than Pentagon estimates.

In 2021, the Pentagon estimated there were 35,900 cases, but the Costs of War project said the number was actually 75,569.

It found a similar discrepancy in 2023, with the Pentagon counting 29,000 cases, the first decrease in nearly a decade, but project researchers counting more than 73,000. The Pentagon report on the 2023 numbers came out in May.

Over the course of the war in Afghanistan, 24 percent of active-duty women and 1.9 percent of active-duty men experienced sexual assault, according to the study. There are 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. military.

The Costs of War Project at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University is a nonpartisan research department focused on public accounting for the U.S. war on terrorism launched after the 9/11 attacks.

The report also shows that minority service members, including from the LGBTQ community, experience disproportionately high rates of sexual assault.

Stephanie Savell, director of the Costs of War Project, said the research shows how out-of-reach equality remains in the U.S. military.

“While the military tells us there is more gender equality today because women are now allowed in combat, the sexual assault crisis reveals how women, people of color, and queer and transgender individuals are bearing the brunt of longstanding inequalities that haven’t gone away,” Savell said in a statement.

Pressure from Congress, reports from the Government Accountability Office and other government institutions have tried to tackle the sexual assault crisis in the military for years, but it remains a persistent problem. The issue is also prevalent at the U.S. military academies.

The independent study that the Costs of War Project used compiled data from multiple independent reports, along with data from the U.S. military’s official Sexual Assault Prevention and Response that tracks sexual assaults.

The researchers said the range of two to four times higher than Pentagon estimates is considered a conservative but realistic number when looking at the independent data and comparing it to the U.S. military figures.