Earlier this month, the Pentagon ignored a subpoena and blocked Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, from testifying. After Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) threatened to hold Defense Secretary Bob Gates in contempt and wrote a letter to him yesterday, Gates today finally agreed to allow Whitley to testify. The Crypt reports:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has given in to a demand by Rep. Henry Waxman (R-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, that he allow a Defense Department employee, Dr. Kaye Whitley, to testify. The letter from Waxman was also signed by ranking minority member Tom Davis, subcommittee chairman John Tierney (D-Mass.) and ranking member Christopher Shays (R-Conn.).
The AP reported last month that “of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma.”