Overview
- The Defense Department’s FY2025 report, released Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, estimates 20,492 active-duty service members were sexually assaulted in the year before the survey, down from about 29,000 in 2023.
- The confidential Workplace Experiences Survey found unwanted sexual contact rates fell for women from 6.8% to 4.3% and for men from roughly 1.3%–1.4% to 1.0%, and sexual harassment rates also declined.
- An estimated one in three victims filed a Restricted or Unrestricted report in FY2025, up from one in four in FY2023, even as the department recorded 7,998 formal reports in 2025, a slight drop from 8,195 in 2024.
- The report shows wide variation across services — the Marine Corps had the highest rate for women, the Navy the highest for men, and the Air Force the lowest — and found some trust measures improved while women remained less confident in privacy and safety.
- Advocacy groups disputed the findings, saying recent policy changes such as creation of the Office of Special Trial Counsel and altered reporting rules may suppress reporting and leave survivors’ experiences understated, a gap that could affect prosecutions, support services, and retention.