QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR NBC SURVEY
1.
Do you rely on civilian law enforcement to investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases
against members of your Guard unit?
A: Yes. Civilian law enforcement agencies, such as the Illinois State Police (ISP), are
responsible for conducting investigations of criminal misconduct, including sexual assault,
involving Illinois National Guard (ILNG) Service Members. In 2014, the ISP and the ILNG
entered into a Memorandum of Understanding by which the ILNG will report criminal misconduct
to the ISP, and the ISP will investigate or refer the allegation(s) to the proper law enforcement
agency for investigation. The ILNG has no organic law enforcement personnel or capability to
conduct criminal investigations. The ILNG also relies on civilian prosecutors to charge and
prosecute ILNG Service Members for criminal misconduct, including sexual assault. This is due
to the lack of courts-martial authority in current Illinois State law. A legislative proposal has been
drafted to establish an Illinois Code of Military Justice (ICMJ) based on the State Model Code
for Military Justice.
If civilian law enforcement declines to investigate a report of sexual assault against an ILNG
Service Member, the ILNG refers sexual assault allegations to the National Guard Bureau’s
Office of Complex Investigations for review and possible administrative investigation, in
accordance with Chief National Guard Bureau Instruction 0400.01, 30 July 2012 (with interim
revision 0400, 16 April 2014).
2.
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.
A: Yes. See section 71(b) of the Military Code of Illinois; 20 ILCS 1805/71(b).
3.
Does your state UCMJ allow you to do the equivalent of an Article 32 hearing in the
federal system? If so, under what circumstances?
A: No. The proposed ICMJ, however, does provide for Article 32, pretrial investigative
proceedings as a prerequisite to referral of charges to either a General or Special Court-Martial,
unless waived.
4.
Is there a statute of limitations for sexual assault against members of the military? If so,
what is the length?
A: Yes – In general Illinois State Law provides a statute of limitations period for cases of sexual
assault of 10 years if the victim reported it to law enforcement authorities within 3 years of the
commission of the offense; if the victim did not report to law enforcement, then the limitations
period is generally 3 years. There is no limitations period for sexual conduct offenses if the DNA
profile of the offender is obtained and entered into a DNA database within 10 years after
commission of the offense. See 720 ILCS 5/3-5, 720 ILCS 5/3-6.
5.

When was your UCMJ last updated?

A: There have been no substantive updates to the military justice provisions of the Military Code
of Illinois since 1996.

 6.

Are you currently pursuing any changes to your UCMJ in relation to rape or sex assault?

A: Yes. The proposed ICMJ has been drafted and if enacted into law would provide the ILNG
with proper legal authority to court-martial ILNG Service Members for rape or sexual assault if
civil authorities decline prosecution and if there is sufficient evidence to take the Service
Member to trial.
7.
In the last five years, have you held a court martial as a result of a sexual assault
allegation within your Guard unit?
A: No.
8.
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?
A: Here is a rundown of the Illinois National Guard investigations for sexual assault in the last
five years:
- Total: 23
- Still under investigation: 7 (All these service members have been “flagged” meaning no
favorable personnel actions can be implemented until the flag is removed.)
- Investigation found that allegations were unsubstantiated: 5
- Investigation completed and all or some allegations were substantiated: 11
Breakdown of disposition of those 11:
1) Reduced in rank, letter of reprimand, barred from re-enlisted. Separated from Army
when enlistment expired.
2) Reduced in rank, discharged for absence without leave.
3) Reduced in rank, chose to retire.
4) Nonjudicial punishment, resigned commission and was discharged.
5) Reduced in rank, pending discharge.
6) Letter of reprimand.
7) Enlistment expired, discharged
8) Reduced in rank, forfeiture of 8 days pay, discharge board, discharged “Under Other
Than Honorable Conditions.”
9) General Officer Letter of Reprimand, withdrawal of federal recognition of commission,
discharged “Under Other Than Honorable Conditions.”
10) Pending discharge notification
11) Pending discharge board
- Of the 23 under investigation or with investigations completed, five were/are commissioned
officers, 12 were/are noncommissioned officers, six were/are under the rank of sergeant.
8a. GOMOR and/or letters or reprimand?
A: Yes, three.
8b. Dishonorable Discharge?

 A: No. A dishonorable discharge is a punitive discharge which can only be imposed as a
sentence, or portion of a sentence, for conviction in a general court-martial.
8c. Other type of discharge (please specify)
A: Yes. In a number of instances, the Illinois National Guard has disposed of substantiated
cases of sexual assault by administrative separation, frequently after conviction in civilian court.
In each instance, the Service Member has received an administrative discharge service
characterization of either honorable, general (under honorable conditions) or under other than
honorable conditions.
8d. Forced resignation?
A: No. Resignation, by definition, is a voluntary act. It would be improper for any command,
including the Illinois National Guard, to force an officer to resign. An Army National Guard officer
may, in lieu of involuntary administrative separation, choose to resign his or her commission in
accordance with National Guard Regulation 635-101. Such a resignation is not forced, but a
choice made by the officer concerned.

8e. Forced retirement?
A: No. Retirement, by definition, is a voluntary act. It would be improper for any command, to
include the Illinois National Guard, to force a member to retire.
8f. Other (please specify)
A: Please see breakdown of cases where some or all allegations were found to be
substantiated. In all, but one case the service member is no longer in military service or is in the
process of being discharged.

9. What would your Guard unit like, that you do not have now, to help you combat sexual
assaults?
A: We have drafted and are pursuing enactment of the ICMJ. Based on the legislative cycle in
Illinois and the proposed changes, we would not expect any new laws to take effect until 2016 at
the earliest.
10. Anything else you would like to tell us about how your Guard unit investigates and
prosecutes sexual assault cases?
A: The leadership of the Illinois National Guard has taken aggressive and pro-active action to
address the problem of both sexual harassment and sexual assault in our ranks within
applicable law.
Our leadership has also mandated training in excess of what is required by the Department of
Defense and we have always been among the first to implement new military resources for the
victims of sexual assault such as bringing on a military attorney to advocate for sexual assault
victims.

 In addition, seeing that alcohol consumption played a large role in sexual assaults, in 2013 Maj.
Gen. Daniel Krumrei, the Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard, issued a general order
severely restricting the consumption of alcohol while in uniform, while on Illinois National Guard
property and while on orders with the Illinois National Guard.
The Illinois National Guard had 58 “unrestricted” reports of sexual assault from 2010 to 2015. Of
those, 23 involved an Illinois National Guard member as the alleged perpetrator. The other 35
involved an alleged perpetrator outside the Illinois National Guard allegedly victimizing an Illinois
National Guard Soldier or Airman. This includes cases of members of other military services or
other state National Guards or civilians. In those cases, the investigation would be conducted by
another agency (civilian or military).
Of those 58 unrestricted cases, 44 involved an alleged military on military assault (33 male on
female, 3 female on male, 6 male on male and 2 female on female). There were 5 cases of
civilians allegedly assaulting an Illinois National Guard service member (3 male on female, 2
male on male). There were 3 Illinois National Guard members who allegedly assaulted civilians.
All 3 were male on female. There were six cases where it was unknown as to whether the
alleged perpetrator was a military member or not.
Of the 58 unrestricted reports, 31 were while the Illinois National Guard member was in Title 32
(drill) status. Twelve (12) were while the Illinois National Guard member was in Title 10 (federal)
status, which includes federal mobilizations, basic training, annual training or military
occupational skill training. The service members would be subject to the federal Uniformed
Code of Military Justice in this status. Eleven alleged assaults occurred while the Illinois
National Guard member was off duty and five allegedly occurred with the Illinois National Guard
member’s duty status unknown.
There were also 10 “restricted” reports of sexual assault involving Illinois National Guard
members. The Soldier or Airman who was assaulted may choose this option as a way to
discreetly get access to services without an investigation and without the knowledge of the
service member’s chain of command.
We work extensively with civilian agencies to ensure our troops who have been victims of
sexual assault get all the resources they need from agencies outside the military such as rape
crises centers and medical resources.
As a result of these actions, increasing numbers of troops have been willing to report sexual
harassment and sexual assault and increasing numbers have been willing to participate in
investigations of these crimes.
The Illinois Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Daniel M. Krumrei, received an award from the Illinois
Coalition Against Sexual Assault on May 14 honoring the work he has done to aggressively
address the crime of sexual assault.