Earlier this month, more than 200 women who hold positions in national security in the United States signed an open letter in which they detailed experiences of sexual harassment and assault. In the Senate, Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) read it, appalled.
Now, they've spearheaded an effort within the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to demand answers from National Director of Intelligence Dan Coats, pressing him to not only review and respond to the abuse these women described, but that he meet with senators in the Intelligence Committee to outline a plan to address their claims. In a letter, the senators write that the intelligence communities "should be a leader in establishing, and promoting, a workplace culture that respects and includes women as equal peers and colleagues," not participating in a culture of fear and retaliation described in the initial open letter.
Titled #metoonatsec, that statement spoke to broader cultural revelations that have launched a viral social media moment. "This is not just a problem in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, newsrooms or Congress. It is everywhere," the women in intelligence insisted. "These abuses are born of imbalances of power and environments that permit such practices while silencing and shaming their survivors."
"Assault is the progression of the same behaviors that permit us to be denigrated, interrupted, shut out, and shut up," the letter continued. "These behaviors incubate a permissive environment where sexual harassment and assault take hold."
