WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee will hold a Tuesday afternoon hearing on Defense Department social media policies in the wake of the nude photo sharing scandal spreading through the military.
But don't expect many details on the investigations into those potential crimes.
While Senate members held a two-hour-plus hearing last week on allegations of stalking, harassment and invasion of privacy against women in the ranks, House leaders have opted to keep most of their inquiries into the problems behind the scenes.
Tuesday's hearing is expected to be a broad overview of military policies dealing with appropriate use of social media tools and behavior online, though Democrats on the committee's personnel panel will likely try to probe deeper into the recent scandals.
Earlier this month, Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials said they are looking into possible felony charges against hundreds of active-duty troops and reservists involved with a series of online forums the members of which were sharing nude pictures of female Marines and other women.
The potential crimes came to light when The War Horse publicized one such group — Marines United — sharing those photos, with commenters in some cases advocating the stalking and assault of the women.
Since that site was shut down, numerous response sites have launched to continue to share the photos, and the other military services have begun investigating similar offensive forums.
Last week, committee chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told reporters that his preference is not to have open hearings on the issue similar to the Senate, because of the legal issues involved.
"There are dangers that come of that related to prosecutions," he said. "Part of my thought this week is that (Marine Corps Commandant) Gen. (Robert) Neller was able to read his public statement in the Senate last week, he doesn’t need to read it twice.
"This is a significant issue that deserves our attention. I just think we have to be cautious in talking about specific investigations that are ongoing, because we can mess that up."
But Democrats on the committee are still pushing for a public hearing on the issue, given the seriousness of the charges involved.
Both House and Senate leaders have promised close monitoring of the investigations, but mostly behind the scenes out of concerns that courts could take public comments on the issue as prejudicial against future defendants.
Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the committee’s website. Manpower and personnel officials from each of the services are expected to testify.
Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at lshane@militarytimes.com.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
