Top U.S. military officials in Okinawa Prefecture failed to report offenses, including sexual harassment, committed by a senior officer under their command, according to a recent report from the Inspector General of the Marine Corps.
The report, published in June 2017, criticized the Corps' top marine on the island — Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) — and other leading marines there for failing to report offenses committed by Col. Daniel Hunter Wilson while he was assigned as a liaison officer to Darwin, Australia, in February 2016.
The move comes as the U.S. military justice system faces widespread criticism, including from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, for allowing base commanders to decide whether to pursue charges against service members accused of serious crimes, such as sexual offenses.
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