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Norah O’Donnell on sexual assault in the U.S. military

In this screengrab, Norah O'Donnell accepts the Outstanding News Anchor award for "CBS News on the Hour with Norah O'Donnell," at the 45th Anniversary Gracie Awards.
In this screengrab, Norah O'Donnell accepts the Outstanding News Anchor award for "CBS News on the Hour with Norah O'Donnell," at the 45th Anniversary Gracie Awards.

Approximately 20,000 U.S. service members are sexually assaulted each year. That’s according to the Department of Defense. But fewer than 2 percent of these assaults lead to criminal charges.

President Biden signed an executive order last month making sexual harassment an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Pentagon’s spending on assault prevention has also quadrupled since 2008. However, some say little has changed.

CBS News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell spoke to several survivors and their family members in 2020 about their personal experiences. O’Donnell and her team won an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University award for excellence in broadcast journalism for their reporting.

We speak to her about this reporting and her role as one of the main anchors for the network.

Copyright 2022 WAMU 88.5

Haili Blassingame