1Q. Do you rely on civilian law enforcement to investigate and prosecute sexual
assault cases against members of your Guard unit?
1A) Yes, in most cases. It will primarily depend on a jurisdictional question, which is
determined by the status of the Alaska National Guard service member at the time
and location of the offense. If a service member is in a Title 32 duty status as an
AKNG member, civilian law enforcement will be involved in all investigations of
unrestricted reports of sexual assault. In some instances, investigation of an offense
will be under the jurisdiction of Military Criminal Investigation Command (CID) for
military personnel in a federal (Title 10) status who are suspected of offenses under
the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
2Q. Does your state UCMJ have any specific language regarding investigating or
prosecuting sexual assault cases? If so, please provide some details or the specific
statute.
2A) Our state does not have a UCMJ. We are currently working to develop a model
state code of military justice similar to the UCMJ, and that under some
circumstances, may include a mechanism or measure to administer military justice
in sex-related offenses that include a National Guard nexus.
3Q. Does your state UCMJ allow you to do the equivalent of an Article 32 hearing in
the federal system? If so, under what circumstances?
3A) As we are currently drafting a state code of military justice, the intent is to
mirror the UCMJ as closely as possible, while being consistent with the Alaska state
constitution and criminal law. If we are successful in the inclusion of a courts-martial
system within our state code of military justice, we will likely include the provision of
an Article 32 Hearing, which is required for a defendant to be referred to General
Court Martial under the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice. An Article 32
Hearing is similar to a civilian court's preliminary hearing, and is in order to
determine whether there is enough evidence to merit referral to the general courtmartial. A general court-martial is the highest military court, and if the offenses
charged are serious enough to warrant convening a general court-martial, the
convening authority will detail an Article 32 Hearing with a commissioned officer as
the investigating officer who will conduct the investigation and make findings and
recommendations back to the convening authority as to the sufficiency of the
evidence, charges, etc.
4Q. Is there a statute of limitations for sexual assault against members of the
military? If so, what is the length?
4A) State law governs the statute of limitations for all criminal offenses, and upon
completion of our state code of military justice, it will be consistent with state law.
We will have to take under consideration the matter of retroactive application of our
new state code of military justice with state officials. Retroactive application will
depend on the effective date of the code, and if and when it is determined how far
back cases may be considered subject to the state code of military justice; all of
which must be consistent with and according to Alaska's state constitution.
5Q. When was your UCMJ last updated?
5A) The Alaska military code as codified in the Alaska Statutes was last updated in
the 1950s. We are currently working on revising and updating the “Military Code of
Alaska” to fit the needs of the force as we are currently structured and operating.

 6Q. Are you currently pursuing any changes to your UCMJ in relation to rape or sex
assault?
6A) At present the offenses likely to be covered by our new state code of military
justice will initially focus on military offenses for breaches of good order and
discipline, and that are discrediting to the armed forces. Crimes cognizable under
state law, such as sexual assault, will continue to be pursued by civilian authorities,
with the Guard's full cooperation.
7Q. In the last five years, have you held a court martial as a result of a sexual
assault allegation within your Guard unit?
7A) No. We are currently working on revising the state code of military justice and
court-martial system. If any AKNG member has been court-martialed in the last five
years, it would likely only have occurred while they were in a federal title 10 active
duty status.
8Q. In the last five years, have you meted out any of the following punishments
resulting from a sex assault allegation made against a member of your unit?
8A) When using administrative separation procedures, we have had a full range of
varying dispositions for sex assault cases to include Other Than Honorable
discharge, which is the highest characterization available outside of a general courtmartial which is authorized a Dishonorable Discharge.
9Q. What would your Guard unit like, that you do not have now, to help you combat
sexual assaults?
9A) We continue to assess our organization structure in efforts to ensure safety,
efficiency, and effectiveness of our force. The utilization of a Provost Marshal Office
continues to be a vital addition to AKNG.
10Q. Anything else you would like to tell us about how your Guard unit
investigates and prosecutes sexual assault cases?
10A) We will continue to work with local law enforcement agencies to ensure the
safety and well-being of our AKNG service members. Although we do not currently
have an effectively functioning state code of military justice, we will continue to use
the civilian justice system and available military administrative measures to
investigate, prosecute and offer some measure of justice in sexual assault cases
that affect our military members.