Sexual Assault Rates Decline in Latest Pentagon Survey Following Reforms

Sexual assault reports across the military decreased last year, according to the Pentagon’s latest official figures released Aug. 21.

The Department of Defense received 7,998 official reports of sexual assault involving service members in fiscal 2025, a decrease from 8,195 in 2024 and 8,515 in 2023, according to the U.S. military’s annual congressionally mandated report on the issue. The Pentagon said it found sufficient evidence for disciplinary action in 2,220 of those cases.

The Pentagon also estimated that sexual assaults involving service members decreased to 4.3 percent from 6.8 percent for Active-Duty women. It dropped to 1 percent from 1.3 percent for Active-Duty men since the latest available data from 2023. 

The Air Force and the Space Force had the lowest rates of sexual assault among the services—2.8 percent for female Airmen and 3.5 percent for female Guardians, and less than 1 percent of male service members for both services.

Those figures come from the Pentagon’s biennial Workplace Experiences Survey, which asks service members whether they have been sexually assaulted, sexually harassed, or experienced sex discrimination in the past year. The total number of reported sexual assaults across the military is released annually. The anonymous survey, which asks about incidents that occurred in the past 12 months, captures a broader set of data and is the primary marker for the Pentagon on how prevalent sexual assault is within the ranks. Responses were collected in the fall of 2025.

“Dignity, respect, and discipline are foundational to the warrior ethos and the overall preparedness of the force,” Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata said in an Aug. 21 statement. “Sexual assault and sexual harassment undermine these values, eroding trust and threatening the mission.”

The U.S. military estimated that one-third of sexual assaults were reported in 2025, compared to one-fourth in 2023, according to Pentagon data.

Military personnel experts said the trends are an indication that the process for reporting and addressing sexual assaults has improved during the Biden and Trump administrations.

“We’re seeing increased trust in reporting and in the systems that are available,” said Katherine Kuzminski, the director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, which she attributed to “deliberate policy decisions and investments.”

“Not only was that something that was started in the last administration, but this administration also gets to claim credit for continuing on,” she added of the recent reforms.

At the end of 2023, each of the military services established an Office of Special Trial Counsel to prosecute serious crimes, including murder, sexual assault, and domestic violence. The aim was to remove the chain of command from the process to lessen fears of retaliation. 

That followed the establishment of an Integrated Primary Prevention Workforce, which has focused on preventing sexual assault, suicide, and other harmful behaviors in 2021. President Joe Biden also ordered that sexual harassment be added as an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Alex Wagner, who served as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs under Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the Biden administration, said the latest figures showed recent reforms, particularly the hiring of the prevention workforce and the implementation of the Office of Special Trial Counsel, have started “to sink in and demonstrate success.”

Wagner said the survey results represented “clear, strong evidence that the focus on reducing unwanted sexual contact in the military by Secretary Austin and the service secretaries has resulted in a real and positive reduction in harmful behaviors that impact the lived experiences of members of the military.”

This year’s report, under the Trump administration, appears to support continuing many of those efforts.

“[E]ngaged leadership, a fully resourced Integrated Primary Prevention Workforce, and the active mitigation of stressors are critical readiness multipliers that preserve and support our Total Force’s warfighting capability,” the Pentagon wrote in the report released Aug. 21.

According to the Pentagon, trust in the military to handle sexual assault has increased. Still, less than half of Active-Duty women trust the military to “protect their privacy, ensure their safety, and treat them with dignity and respect” compared to around two-thirds of Active-Duty men. 

Asked about the new military justice process, 44 percent of Active-Duty women and 64 percent of Active-Duty men said they would trust the Office of Special Trial Counsel to be fair in a hypothetical sexual assault scenario.

Preventing sexual assault, the Pentagon says, is not just a personnel matter but is vital for the military’s combat effectiveness. 

“The Department’s commitment to a disciplined, professional fighting force is fundamental to maintaining a lethal, ready, and mission-focused military,” the latest report concludes.

“This commitment is grounded in standards, accountability, and mutual respect across the Total Force. Conduct that undermines that trust—including sexual assault—directly degrades unit cohesion, readiness, and overall warfighting effectiveness. Preventing and responding to sexual assault is therefore a readiness imperative.”