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4gGENDER DISPARITIES IN
CONGRESSIONAL
NOMINATIONS TO THE
MILITARY SERVICE
ACADEMIES

CONNECTICUT
VETERANS
LEGAL
CENTER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT CVLC ...................................................................................... 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................... 2
KEY FINDINGS ...................................................................................... 3
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................... 3
MILITARY SERVICE ACADEMY NOMINATIONS PROCESS ...................... 4
DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 6
NOMINATIONS IN THE HOUSE .............................................................. 7
NOMINATIONS IN THE SENATE ............................................................. 8
GEOGRAPHIC TRENDS .......................................................................... 9
NOMINATIONS BY PARTY ................................................................... 10
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................... 11
DATA METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 13
HISTORY OF GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE SERVICE ACADEMIES ..... 14
THE STRUGGLE FOR CO-EDUCATION ................................................. 14
WOMEN ENTER THE ACADEMIES ....................................................... 15
SEXUAL ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT AT THE ACADEMIES .................. 15
WOMEN IN THE MILITARY NOW ...................................................... 17
APPENDIX: COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINATORS .................................. 18
REFERENCES .................................................................................... 23

July 2019
2

 ABOUT CVLC
The Connecticut Veterans Legal Center is dedicated to removing the legal barriers to
housing, healthcare, and income for veterans recovering from homelessness and mental
illness. CVLC provides free legal services to homeless, low-income, and mentally ill
veterans and advances veterans law through advocacy and education, reaching audiences
within Connecticut1 and across the nation through reports on key issues affecting
veterans,2 practice manuals used by veterans and advocates,3 and in national media.4 As
the first medical-legal partnership co-located at a VA facility, CVLC is a national leader in
medical-legal partnerships and veterans legal services.

1

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The nation’s military service academies — United States Air Force Academy (USAFA),
United States Naval Academy (USNA), and United States Military Academy at West
Point (USMA) — are elite, highly selective educational institutions whose graduates
consistently populate the highest-ranking positions in the Armed Services.5 They are also
institutions with dramatic gender disparities in enrollment and alarming rates of sexual
harassment and sexual assault.
This report illuminates an aspect of the service academy admissions process that has
received comparatively little attention: congressional nominations. In order to be
considered for admission to one of these academies, most applicants must first obtain a
nomination from their U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator. While congressional
committees and individual members have spoken about a concerning lack of gender
diversity in the service academies, they have rarely acknowledged the disparate rates at
which Members of Congress themselves nominate female candidates for admission.6
This analysis, the first of its kind, finds that Members of Congress have overwhelmingly
nominated young men rather than young women, thus depriving the academies of a
more balanced pool of candidates.7
Examining the procedures and disparities in congressional nominations will help future
applicants, nominators, and the public to understand and improve the opaque processes
that continue to produce steep gender imbalances at the service academies and in the
Armed Forces more broadly. To evaluate congressional nominations, the Connecticut
Veterans Legal Center (CVLC) requested records from USAFA, USNA, and USMA in
2018 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CVLC combined those records with
data obtained in earlier FOIA requests to create a dataset of congressional nominations
from the 1994-1995 cycle to the 2019-2020 cycle. The analysis in this report is based
on Defense Department records obtained by CVLC and provides an overview of the
stark gender disparities in congressional nominations to the service academies.
The data in this report are based on all current Members of Congress who have
nominated over 10 candidates to the academies. Out of the current Congress, 91
Senators, 342 Representatives, and 5 Delegates have submitted over 10 nominations
and are included in the analysis.8

2

 Key Findings
•
•
•

•

In every year since 1995, women have never exceeded 27% of the nominees of
current Members of Congress to the service academies.
The nomination gap cuts across party lines. Democrats in Congress have
nominated 22% women, while Republicans have nominated 20%.
Only one member of the House or Senate has nominated more women than men
to the service academies: Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, the Republican
delegate from American Samoa. The 437 other Members and delegates of
Congress included in our analysis have all nominated more men than women.
Out of the 438 current voting Members and Delegates of Congress analyzed
here, 49 have female nomination rates of 15% or lower. 187 Members—more
than 40% of current Members—have rates of 20% or lower.

Key Recommendations
Members of Congress should consider the gender distribution of their nominations. To
create a more equitable application process, congressional offices should:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Compile detailed application information on an accessible website.
Explicitly highlight a desire for a diverse applicant pool in promotional materials.
Track characteristics of their applicant pool from year to year.
Host multiple Academy Days and invite service academy alumnae to attend.
Contact high school guidance counselors to identify promising students from
under-represented backgrounds.
Train interview panels and selection staff to recognize nontraditional markers of
academy potential.
Provide the opportunity for interested candidates to receive feedback on their
application before they apply.
Require the military service academies to publish an annual report that details
how many candidates, by race, ethnicity, and gender have been nominated to
each military service academy that year by every congressional representative.
Mandate Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of congressional
nominations procedures.

3

 MILITARY SERVICE ACADEMY NOMINATIONS PROCESS
Admission to the military service academies is extremely competitive. To even be
considered for admission, candidates must first secure a nomination. There are two main
types of nominations: congressional and service-connected nominations. This report
focuses on nominations by members of the United States Senate and House of
Representatives. At any time, a maximum of five admits nominated by any given
Member of Congress may attend each academy. For each admit vacancy, which occur
whenever admits graduate or withdraw from the school, a member may nominate up to
10 new candidates for consideration by the academy. Each year, typically one vacancy
per military service academy becomes available per representative.9 For residents in U.S.
territories, the admit quota differs slightly.10
The congressional nominations process is highly decentralized, and Representatives and
Senators do not use one, uniform selection process. Congress originally created the
nominations system to help diversify the ranks of military
officers. Congress intended for the military to draw its
THE CONGRESSIONAL
officers from all geographic regions, and also to ensure that
NOMINATIONS PROCESS
officers be appointed democratically, free of political
IS HIGHLY
patronage.11 In practice, some dispute how well this goal
has been achieved.12 As one application guidance document
DECENTRALIZED.
put together by a Missouri high school states, “If your family
has connections to your Representative or to either of the Senators, this would be a
good time to utilize them.”13
Each congressional office may set its own selection process. Offices frequently follow a
holistic model that evaluates qualifications such as character, scholarship, leadership,
physical aptitude, medical fitness, and motivation.14 However, as former Rep. John Hall
has stated, the “X factor” for most applicants is leadership ability.15 The academies
consider leadership ability nearly as important as academic achievement.16 As for athletic
ability, about 9 out of every 10 cadets in the West Point Class of 2014 had earned
varsity letters in high school, and over half had served as varsity team captains, with
similar numbers across the other academies.17
Representatives and Senators commonly devote a page on their official websites to the
office’s nomination process. The webpages of Senators Kirsten Gillibrand,18 Kamala
Harris,19 and Marco Rubio20 illustrate differences among the nominations processes. Sen.
Gillibrand requires at least one recommendation letter from a math/science teacher,
while Senators Harris and Rubio set no such requirements. Some ask for a photograph.21
Common components of application files to offices include SAT/ACT scores, an official
high school transcript, essays, two or three letters of recommendation, and a resume.
Promising candidates may be interviewed by offices.

4

 Congressional offices also differ as to whom they choose to oversee the nominations
process. Some offices handle the nominations process internally, assigning the entire
task to staff, while other offices delegate the screening and recommendation process to
a volunteer panel.22 These volunteer panels, which sometimes conduct candidate
interviews, may include community leaders, educators, service academy alumni, and
veterans’ group representatives.23
In conversations with several congressional offices, we learned that in practice, Members
of Congress often try to grant interviews to each student who completes an application.
One office described interviewing approximately 300 applicants in one day, split among
20 or so interview panels. Using volunteer panels to interview and evaluate
candidates proved popular, although another office preferred to conduct one-on-one
interviews. In our non-representative sample, Members of Congress appeared to all play
a minor personal role in the process, largely delegating the evaluation and selection of
candidates to staff or volunteers.
Offices may submit nominations in three ways: without ranking, with a principal
candidate and nine ranked alternates, or with a principal candidate and nine unranked
alternates.24 A candidate who receives a principal nomination must be admitted as long
as they meet the minimum qualifications. Of the offices we spoke to, most members
nominated a slate of candidates and chose not to use the principal nomination. However,
a 2014 USA Today investigation found that as many as a third of Congress members use
the principal nomination system depending on the year and service academy.25 A
director of admissions at the Air Force Academy has stated that she wishes Congress
members would submit slates, as it would enable the admissions office to create a rank
order by order of merit.26
Applications often open in the spring or summer of the year before nominations are due
to the academies. During the application period, some representatives host Academy
Days, informational sessions for interested applicants, in their districts. Many
congressional offices then ask for applications by mid- to late October. Nominations
must be delivered to the academies by January 31, and most appointments are made by
mid-April.

5

 DATA ANALYSIS
Members of the 116th Congress have nominated far more men than women. Female
students have received 19,414 nominations, or 21%, while male students have
DATA ANALYSIS
received 72,506 nominations, or 79%.
Of the 438 current Members of Congress with more than 10 total nominations, 49
of Congress
have
consistently
markedly
men than
women
haveCurrent
femalemembers
nomination
rates of
15%
or lower.nominated
187— over
40% ofmore
current
members
to the service academies. Tallying all of the nominations made by current members of the 115th
with more than 10 total nominations—have rates of 20% or lower.

Congress who have nominated more than 10 total candidates since 1995, female students have
received 20,687 nominations, or 21%, while male students have received 77,660 nominations, or
In the sections that follow, this report
79%.
highlights
the543
records
of members
individual
Out of the
current
of nominators
Congress with more than 10 total nominations, 62 have
in the
House and
Senate,
lists Two
the fifteen
female
nomination
ratesthe
of 15%
or lower.
hundred and twenty-four—more than 40% of current
members
with
more
than
10
total
nominations—have
most and least equitable nominators in eachrates of 20% or lower.
Remarkably,
only one member
of the House
chamber,
and summarizes
geographic
and or the Senate with greater than 10 total
nominations
has
nominated
more
women
than
party-related trends in nominations. men to the service academies: Aumua Amata Coleman
Radewagen, the Republican delegate for the House from American Samoa. The 543 other members
of Congress with greater than 10 total nominations have all nominated more men than women.
In the sections that follow, this report will highlight the records of individual nominators in the
House and the Senate, offer a list of the ten most and least equitable nominators in each chamber,
and summarize geographic and party-related trends in nominations.

6

 Nominations in the
House27
Members of the current House
have nominated 21% women
and 79% men. The average
U.S. Representative has
nominated 191 people in total.
Of the voting members of the
House, Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
has nominated the greatest
proportion of women, 19
women and 21 men, a 48%
female field. Each voting
member of the House has
nominated at least one woman
to the academies.

Aumua Amata Coleman
Radewagen (R-AS)

Aumua Amata Coleman
Radewagen (R-AS) is the only
member of the 116th
Congress to have nominated
as many women as men to the
service academies. Radewagen
is the nonvoting Delegate to
the House of Representatives
from American Samoa.28

7

 Nominations in the
Senate
Nominations of women in
the Senate are slightly
higher than those in the
House. Women account
for 23% of Senate
nominations, and men
account for 77%. In our
set of 91 current
Senators, the average
Senator has nominated
217 people total. Senator
Cory Booker (D-NJ) has
nominated the highest
proportion of women—
40%—as female
candidates account for 35
out of his 88 total
nominations. At the other
end of the spectrum,
women make up only
12% of Senator Richard
Burr (R-NC)’s
nominations. He has
nominated 44 women out
of his total 358
nominations.

8

 Geographic Trends
Gender differences in nominations are a nationwide problem. This map shows the
percentage of total nominations that each state’s current U.S. Senators and
Representatives have granted to women since 1995. While no state’s elected officials
have nominated more than 34% women, some states are particularly problematic. In
Alabama, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Vermont, nominators have allotted a
maximum of 17% of their nominations to female students.
At the upper end of the range, Hawaii’s legislators have produced the most equitable
nomination rates, as female students have comprised 34% of their total nominations.
Nevada is next with a 33% rate. Southwestern states have above-average female
nomination rates, with Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico joining Nevada on the list of
states with the ten highest female nomination rates.

9

 Nominations by Party
The nomination gap cuts across party lines. Democrats in Congress have nominated 22%
women, while Republicans have nominated 20%. In the Senate, Republican nominations
are divided with 21% allocated to female candidates and 79% to males. Senate
Democrats nominate a higher proportion of women, nominating 25% women and 75%
men. Of the two independent Senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has nominated a low
proportion of female students, at only 17%. In comparison, Angus King (I-ME) has
allotted 28% of his nominations to female students. In the House, Republicans have
nominated only 20% women, with 80% of nominations granted to male students. House
Democrats’ nomination rates are virtually the same, at 21% women and 79% men.

10

 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
In the current highly decentralized system, each congressional office sets its own
nominations process. What can offices do to achieve better gender balance among the
candidates they nominate to the service academies? CVLC contacted offices around the
country to learn more about their nominations processes. The list below highlights steps
that Members of Congress can take to diversify their applicant pool, ordered from easier
to more difficult to implement:
(1) Compile detailed application information on a website.
Many Members of Congress include a page on their website outlining their nominations
process. The more detail that is provided, the easier it will be for a student to prepare a
compelling application. Information transparency levels the playing field and draws in
people who might not otherwise have considered applying. To that end, offices should
state clear deadlines and expectations of what a complete application entails. Offices
should also provide a clear point of contact for anyone who has questions.
(2) Explicitly highlight a desire for a diverse applicant pool in all promotional materials.
Although staff in many offices stated that they valued diversity in conversations with us,
websites and promotional materials, such as flyers for information sessions and social
media postings, rarely reflect this value explicitly. As an example of a Member of
Congress who does expressly highlight interest in a diverse applicant pool, Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand includes the following FAQ on her page:
What if my grades are not competitive?
Students who demonstrate leadership potential, but who lack the current
academic capacity to handle the rigors of the academy, may be selected to attend
a one-year preparatory program at no cost. Moreover, the academies are
particularly eager to receive applications from NYC students, as both urban and
minority candidates are underrepresented as officers in the United States military,
and it is important that our nation’s leadership reflect the diversity of its
people.29

However, even this FAQ can be accessed only through a link at the bottom of Sen.
Gillibrand’s academy nominations page. We recommend that Members of Congress
include this type of language on their main academy nominations page itself.
(3) Track characteristics of applicant pool and nominations from year to year.
To be able to measure progress, offices need to track the data in the first place. Some
offices discussed tracking the racial and gender makeup of the applicant pool, noting
trends over the years. Offices should also track the characteristics of the individuals who
ultimately receive nominations each year.
11

 (4) Host multiple Academy Days and invite service academy women alumnae to attend.
Offices vary in the number of Academy Days that they hold in their district or state.
Academy Days serve as in-person information sessions for interested applicants and
therefore provide a valuable tool to reach students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Some offices described choosing the locations with care, targeting areas with historically
low representation. We recommend that Members of Congress invite service academy
women alumnae to attend whenever possible to provide role models for young women
interested in attending a service academy.
(5) Reach out to guidance counselors to identify promising high school students from
underrepresented backgrounds.
Some offices visit high schools and meet with guidance counselors about their office’s
particular service academy nominations process. We recommend that Members of
Congress engage in such outreach, using these visits to highlight their commitment to
diversity and to ask guidance counselors to encourage promising high school students
from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. Offices could also ask guidance
counselors for the names of promising students and follow up with personalized
outreach letters. The Congressional Research Service has provided sample outreach
letters.30
(6) Train interview panels and selection staff to look for nontraditional markers of
potential.
Offices should train interview panels and anyone else who participates in the selection
process to look for nontraditional evidence of potential for leadership and other qualities
valued by the service academies, such as overcoming various forms of adversity. One
office with whom we spoke decided to remove academics entirely as a category from
the scoresheet given to interviewers.
Offices should also ensure that the panels themselves represent a diverse cross-section
of community members, especially across racial and gender lines. One office rotates
interview panels every two years to provide more people the opportunity to help select
nominees. Another office publicized the opportunity to serve on an interview panel
through their mailing list instead of relying solely on tapping people they already knew.
(7) Provide feedback on the draft applications of interested candidates.
Allowing interested candidates to receive personalized feedback on their application can
also reduce information gaps. One office described giving advice such as recommending
an applicant increase their amount of community service or number of leadership
positions. Providing a dedicated staff member to oversee the nominations process and
guide applicants through it can strengthen applications from students who lack outside
encouragement or access to networks of former students at military service academies.

12

 DATA METHODOLOGY
The data for this report were obtained from the military service academies’ respective
offices pursuant to requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5
U.S.C. § 552. The academies produced two series of FOIA requests: one for nominations
from the 1990s to 2015 see Serv. Women’s Action Network v. Dep’t of Def., No. 3:15-cv137-SRU (D. Conn. 2016), and a second for nominations from 2016 to early 2019.
CVLC’s 2018 FOIA requests asked for “[r]ecords sufficient to show the annual number
of nominations and gender of nominees awarded by individual Congressional nominators
for each year, from November 14, 2014 to the present” including year of nomination, the
nominee’s gender, race, and ethnicity, and “the name of the nominee’s Congressional
nominator.”
Together, the underlying datasets span application cycles from 1994-1995 to 20192020. The combined dataset was limited to reflect nominations by current members of
the 116th Congress only. A number of current U.S. Senators have previously served as
Representatives. When ranking by individual chamber, the report factors in only those
nominations made while the member held that particular position. For example, when
“Mazie Hirono” or “Martha McSally” appear in the Senate list, those results are based
solely on the nominations each made as a Senator.31
Because the service academies produced the 2019-2020 application cycle data in
January 2019, the data for the 2019-2020 cycle provide a partial dataset, based on a
snapshot of the nominations received as of the dates that the academies retrieved these
data. This is also true for the 2015-2016 application cycle, as the 2015 production
contained a limited number of nominations for that cycle. In other cases, the service
academies failed to provide data sufficient to identify Senate nominators by name.
The data provided by USNA list nominations only by Congressional district and by
anonymized “Senator 1” and “Senator 2” of each state. USNA has represented that it
does not have records to identify which of a state’s Senators was “Senator 1” or “Senator
2” prior to 2018-2019. Despite the implausibility of this representation,32 to avoid
misattribution, the rankings exclude Senate nominations for USNA. The rankings also
exclude all USNA nominators’ first year in office to avoid misattribution of nominations
by outgoing Members that may have been counted by the USNA admissions office in
January of the next calendar year or in the months following a special election.
After assembling the data into a standardized format, we analyzed the data using the
statistical programming language R and removed nominators with ten or fewer
nominations before ranking by percentage of female candidates nominated.33
Acknowledging that there are other dimensions along which this data can be evaluated—
most notably racial disparities—CVLC is making the data publicly available online so that
Congress, journalists, researchers, and members of the public can supplement the
findings of this report and offer additional insight.

13

 HISTORY OF GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE SERVICE ACADEMIES
To contextualize the data set forth above, we provide a brief history of the military
service academies and their transition from single-sex to integrated institutions.

The Struggle for Co-Education
Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the first academy, USMA, in 1802.34
Subsequently, USNA opened its doors in 1845,35 and USAFA in 1954.36 From their
founding, the service academies have produced many of the highest-ranking officials in
the nation’s military.37 Indeed, three U.S. Presidents graduated from a service academy.38
Initially, the service academies admitted only men. Over time, though, the composition
of the United States military changed, as some 350,000 women joined the Armed
Services during World War II.39 In the Women’s Army Corps and U.S. Navy’s Women
Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service program, women worked in critical noncombat jobs both stateside and abroad.40 The movement for gender integration of the
academies developed in the late 1960s, as a function of women’s critical role in World
War II and in the midst of a larger movement for women’s rights. Notwithstanding
women’s contributions to the war effort, however, early attempts to establish a women’s
service academy were unsuccessful.41
Undeterred, women continued to pursue access to an elite military education. In 1972,
Senator Jacob K. Javits submitted the first serious nomination of a female for admission
to the U.S. Naval Academy.42 Although the Academy rejected the nomination on the
basis that admitting women was contrary to law and custom, the nomination marked the
beginning of a three-year effort in Congress and in the courts to open academy doors to
women.43
In 1973, two California House members, Jerome R. Waldie and Don Edwards, filed suit
in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of women who wanted to attend
the Naval and Air Force academies.44 However, Judge Oliver Gasch held that there was a
“legitimate government interest in denying women admission to the academies.”45
Although the suit was not successful in the courts, the legal action captured Congress’s
attention.
At the end of 1973, Sen. William D. Hathaway offered an amendment to a Senate bill to
allow women to attend the military academies. After months of back-and-forth within
both chambers of Congress, the Senate and House agreed on a version of Hathaway’s
amendment in June 1975. On October 7, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the bill
into law, paving the way for women to join the military academies the following
summer.46

14

 Women Enter the Academies
In 1976, the first women entered the military service academies. One hundred fiftyseven women enrolled in the first co-ed Air Force
Academy class, followed by 119 at West Point and
81 at the Naval Academy.47 In anticipation of a new,
IN
,
coeducational environment, each academy made
efforts to prepare for the women’s arrival on
THE FIRST WOMEN ENROLLED
campus. USAFA enlisted 13 special Air Training
IN THE SERVICE ACADEMIES.
Officers, female First and Second Lieutenants, to
guide and counsel the incoming female cadets. The academy also hired female faculty
and conducted briefings for staff and upperclassmen.48 At USNA, the academy’s
Commandant initiated a study of the changes necessary to accommodate the new,
female midshipmen.49 Likewise, USMA conducted a series of studies to gauge women’s
experiences on campus.50

1976

Despite their planning, the academies were ill-prepared for the transition to coeducation. From living spaces to physical fitness standards, the academies were oriented
toward male cadets and midshipmen.51 Furthermore, the prospect of female students
conjured stigma and external doubt. Many military officials had fought to maintain the
service academies’ status as all-male institutions, including some who had predicted that
women would not be able to withstand the pressures of academy life.52 Even after the
first classes of women had completed a year at the academies, General William C.
Westmoreland, former Army Chief of Staff, commented, “Maybe you could find one
woman in 10,000 who could lead in combat, but she would be a freak and we’re not
running the military academy for freaks.”53
A year after women entered the academies, they continued to feel ostracized.54 One
member of the first female class at the academies felt that “there were a lot of people
out to get us” and reported experiencing a “verbal barrage” whenever she passed
through a certain section of the dorm area.55 Another female cadet reflected that male
cadets perceived her as “someone in a skirt, someone who obviously didn’t have a mind
or couldn’t run a mile.”56

Sexual Assault and Harassment at the Academies
Since the very beginning of co-education, the academies have tacitly allowed pervasive
sexual assault and sexual harassment. According to retired Lieutenant General Bradley
Hosmer, a former USAFA Superintendent, “It was typical . . . a female (freshman) cadet
would wake up in the middle of the night, and there would be a male cadet with his
hands in the wrong places.”57 The first public reports of sexual assault and harassment of
women at the service academies surfaced as early as 1983, only three years after the
first women had graduated.58

15

 Since those early reports, high-profile allegations of sexual assault have continued to
surface. In 1994, USAFA third-class cadet Elizabeth Saum alleged in a lawsuit that
classmates spattered her with urine and subjected her to a mock rape.59 A media
investigation revealed a culture of denigration of women at the academy. Male cadets
referred to women as “jail bait,” and told female cadets that their bra straps were visible
through their uniforms. 60 In one case, an upperclassman ordered female cadets to do
push-ups in bed so he could see their breasts. While the academy reprimanded the
cadet, he eventually graduated and became an Air Force officer.61
In 2003, an Air Force cadet’s decision to come forward with her own story of sexual
violence prompted a hard look at the academy’s culture. From 1993–2003, the academy
received 142 allegations of sexual assault,62 even as a 2003 Defense Department survey
revealed that cadets did not report 80 percent of sexual assaults during that period.63
The academy’s problems with sexual violence did not stop there, however. Cadets
reported 287 incidents of sexual assaults between 2007 and 2016.64
The Air Force Academy is not alone in its culture of sexual assault and harassment. At
the Naval Academy, sexual assault reports by midshipmen totaled 151 between 2007
and 2016.65 In the same period, West Point cadets filed 116 reports.66 One woman who
filed a sexual assault complaint against a fellow midshipman at the Naval Academy
pointed to a dangerous school environment: “[T]he atmosphere there, is the problem . . .
you have men there who don’t want women there. . . . If the academy taught me
anything, it’s to toe the line and keep my mouth shut.”67
A New York Times article covering women’s first year in the academies highlighted the
inequitable culture on service academy campuses, and predicted that “as each service
academy gets more women, the situation may improve.”68 Similarly, academy officials in
the late 1970s expressed their belief that “the reluctance to accept women will tend to
disappear when all classes include women members.”69
Today, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and unwanted sexual contact remain pervasive
at all of the academies. According to the Defense Department, during the 2017–18
period, over half of the women enrolled in the academies, 50.2%, experienced sexual
harassment, and 15.8% experienced unwanted sexual contact.70
In the four decades since women have been
“[W]OMEN ARE JUST AS CAPABLE
admitted, cadets, midshipmen, and outside
AS MEN, BUT IT’S NOT
experts have expressed consistent concerns that
NECESSARILY SEEN THAT WAY.
the academy environments, where males
AND IT DOESN’T REALLY HELP
dominate and the ratio of men to women is
heavily skewed, create an alien and inhospitable
WHEN THERE AREN’T THAT MANY
environment for female cadets.71 As one female
OF US IN THE FIRST PLACE.”
cadet reported in a 2017 survey, “[W]omen are
just as capable as men, but it’s not necessarily seen that way. And it doesn’t really help
when there aren’t that many of us in the first place.”72
16

 WOMEN IN THE MILITARY NOW
In recent years, a new wave of concerns has emerged surrounding the recruitment and
training of women at the United States Military Service Academies. In 2013, the Defense
Department announced that it would open all combat roles to women.73 This new policy
phased out the last of the military’s gender-based occupational exclusions and enabled
the academies to admit candidates irrespective of the need to fill male-only jobs. “There
will be no exceptions,” announced then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.74
In a 2013 radio interview,75 USMA’s then-Superintendent Robert Caslen announced that
West Point would immediately begin recruiting more women. “Next year, we’re going to
recruit a class that will move from 15 to 20 percent,” he stated. The twenty percent goal
was only an incremental first step: “We don’t know yet what the right number is. It could
be 25 percent. Heck, it could be 50 percent.” However, the gender disparities in the
service academies have changed only minimally since 2013. Currently, women compose
only about a quarter of each Academy’s student body. USNA’s Class of 2022 is 27.8%
women, USAFA’s 25.2%, and USMA’s 24.5%.76 In comparison, the Classes of 2017 for
USNA, USAFA, and USMA were 23%, 23.2%, and 16.1% women, respectively.77
The continued underrepresentation of women at these institutions has generated debate
about diversity and inclusion at the academies, especially in light of reports that the
academies’ rates of sexual misconduct are on the rise.78 In January 2019, the
Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office reported that
incidents of unwanted sexual contact at USMA were up 47% since 2016.79 Service
advocates and academy officials have disagreed about the appropriate rate of progress
as well as the degree to which gender disparities may be caused by a “naturally” smaller
female applicant pool,80 inadequate recruitment of women candidates,81 or—as some
advocates have suggested—an unspoken cap on the number of women the academies
are willing to enroll.82
Increasing women’s access to the training opportunities offered at the service academies
is key to neutralizing the perceived “brass ceiling” that has historically limited the
advancement of women in the armed services more broadly.83 Recent achievements by
women in uniform underscore the importance of the academies in this broader mission.
In 2013, Air Force Academy graduate and three-star General Michelle D. Johnson
became the first woman Superintendent of USAFA.84 In 2014, Naval Academy graduate
Michelle J. Howard became the first woman to hold the rank of four-star Admiral in the
U.S. Navy.85 And in 2015, West Point graduates Shaye Haver and Kristen Griest became
the first women to complete U.S. Army Ranger School and become infantry officers.86
Still, in the face of these barriers and stigma, women at the service academies continue
to excel. Despite making up less than 20% of the total class size, women in West Point’s
graduating class of 2018 accounted for 44% of the academy’s Honor Graduates and 6 of
the top 10 graduates overall.87

17

 Appendix: Complete List of Nominators
Senate Nominators: Percent of Nominations Granted to Female Students88
1. Cory Booker: 40%
2. Mazie Hirono: 38%
3. Martha McSally: 38%
4. Cory Gardner: 37%
5. Brian Schatz: 37%
6. Thom Tillis: 37%
7. Margaret Hassan: 37%
8. Deb Fischer: 35%
9. Kamala Harris: 34%
10. Marco Rubio: 34%
11. Kirsten Gillibrand: 34%
12. Steve Daines: 33%
13. David Perdue: 33%
14. Mike Rounds: 32%
15. Michael Bennet: 32%
16. Elizabeth Warren: 31%
17. Ron Wyden: 31%
18. Tim Kaine: 30%
19. Joni Ernst: 30%
20. Chris Van Hollen: 30%
21. Richard Blumenthal: 30%
22. Bob Casey: 30%
23. Mark Warner: 30%
24. Tom Udall: 29%
25. Bill Cassidy: 29%
26. John Thune: 28%
27. Dianne Feinstein: 28%
28. Patrick Toomey: 28%
29. Angus King: 28%
30. Martin Heinrich: 27%
31. Jim Risch: 27%
32. Dan Sullivan: 26%
33. Debbie Stabenow: 26%
34. Robert Menendez: 26%
35. Ron Johnson: 26%
36. Ben Sasse: 25%

37. Joe Manchin: 25%
38. Jon Tester: 25%
39. Christopher Coons: 25%
40. Tammy Duckworth: 24%
41. Catherine Cortez Masto: 24%
42. Patty Murray: 23%
43. Rob Portman: 23%
44. Tammy Baldwin: 23%
45. Maria Cantwell: 23%
46. James Lankford: 23%
47. Roy Blunt: 23%
48. Susan Collins: 23%
49. Sherrod Brown: 22%
50. Todd Young: 22%
51. Jeanne Shaheen: 22%
52. Gary Peters: 22%
53. John Hoeven: 22%
54. Benjamin Cardin: 21%
55. Thomas Carper: 21%
56. Lisa Murkowski: 21%
57. Jeff Merkley: 21%
58. Pat Roberts: 21%
59. Richard Durbin: 20%
60. Michael Crapo: 20%
61. John Cornyn: 20%
62. Roger Wicker: 20%
63. Jerry Moran: 20%
64. Charles Schumer: 20%
65. Michael Enzi: 20%
66. Tim Scott: 20%
67. Christopher Murphy: 19%
68. Ted Cruz: 19%
69. Johnny Isakson: 19%
70. Sheldon Whitehouse: 19%
71. Jack Reed: 19%
72. Mike Lee: 19%

73. Mitch McConnell: 18%
74. Patrick Leahy: 18%
75. Edward Markey: 18%
76. Lamar Alexander: 18%
77. Richard Shelby: 17%
78. John Barrasso: 17%
79. Charles Grassley: 17%
80. James Inhofe: 17%
81. John Boozman: 17%
82. Bernie Sanders: 17%
83. Shelley Capito: 17%
84. Tina Smith: 17%
85. Lindsey Graham: 17%
86. Amy Klobuchar: 16%
87. Rand Paul: 15%
88. Marsha Blackburn: 15%
89. John Kennedy: 13%
90. Tom Cotton: 13%
91. Richard Burr: 12%
10 Nominations or Fewer:
1. Kevin Cramer: 30%
2. Jacky Rosen: 25%
3. Doug Jones: 20%
4. Kyrsten Sinema: 17%
5. Cindy Hyde-Smith: 10%
This list does not include the
four current Senators who did
not appear in the FOIA data.

18

 House Nominators: Percent of Nominations Granted to Female Students89
1. Brian Fitzpatrick: 48%
2. Greg Gianforte: 45%
3. Frederica Wilson: 43%
4. Francis Rooney: 42%
5. Pete Aguilar: 40%
6. Pramila Jayapal: 40%
7. Andy Biggs: 40%
8. Mike Johnson: 39%
9. Bonnie Watson Coleman: 39%
10. Lou Correa: 38%
11. Jack Bergman: 38%
12. John Rutherford: 38%
13. Tulsi Gabbard: 38%
14. Jamie Raskin: 37%
15. Val Demings: 37%
16. Denny Heck: 36%
17. Anthony Brown: 36%
18. Dan Kildee: 36%
19. Lisa Blunt Rochester: 36%
20. Mark Amodei: 36%
21. Dina Titus: 36%
22. Joyce Beatty: 35%
23. Mark Takano: 34%
24. Darren Soto: 34%
25. Ted Yoho: 33%
26. Juan Vargas: 33%
27. Gerry Connolly: 33%
28. Warren Davidson: 33%
29. Paul Cook: 33%
30. Don Beyer: 33%
31. Buddy Carter: 32%
32. Raúl Grijalva: 32%
33. Ken Buck: 32%
34. Blaine Luetkemeyer: 32%
35. Filemon Vela: 32%
36. Raul Ruiz: 32%
37. Alcee Hastings: 32%

38. Cedric Richmond: 31%
39. Liz Cheney: 31%
40. Matt Gaetz: 31%
41. Elise Stefanik: 31%
42. John Garamendi: 30%
43. Donald McEachin: 30%
44. Steven Horsford: 30%
45. Tom O’Halleran: 30%
46. Debbie Dingell: 30%
47. Stephanie Murphy: 29%
48. Ron Estes: 29%
49. David Rouzer: 29%
50. Paul Mitchell: 29%
51. Drew Ferguson: 29%
52. David Schweikert: 29%
53. Diana Degette: 29%
54. Lloyd Smucker: 28%
55. Justin Amash: 28%
56. James Comer: 28%
57. Paul Gosar: 28%
58. Ann Kirkpatrick: 28%
59. Randy Weber: 28%
60. Robin Kelly: 28%
61. Norma Torres: 27%
62. Chris Collins: 27%
63. Jimmy Panetta: 27%
64. Doris Matsui: 27%
65. Lois Frankel: 26%
66. Brian Mast: 26%
67. Troy Balderson: 26%
68. Lacy Clay: 26%
69. David Scott: 26%
70. Barry Loudermilk: 26%
71. Joaquín Castro: 26%
72. Tom McClintock: 26%
73. Kathy Castor: 26%
74. Scott Perry: 26%

75. Adam Smith: 26%
76. Neal Dunn: 26%
77. Judy Chu: 26%
78. Al Green: 26%
79. Albio Sires: 26%
80. Bill Posey: 26%
81. Sean Maloney: 25%
82. Katherine Clark: 25%
83. Ami Bera: 25%
84. Jackie Walorski: 25%
85. Karen Bass: 25%
86. Dutch Ruppersberger: 25%
87. Robert Wittman: 25%
88. Elijah Cummings: 25%
89. Ben Luján: 25%
90. Ann Kuster: 25%
91. Nancy Pelosi: 25%
92. Marcia Fudge: 25%
93. Glenn Grothman: 25%
94. Ruben Gallego: 25%
95. Brenda Lawrence: 25%
96. Susan Wild: 25%
97. Mike Kelly: 25%
98. Bill Pascrell: 25%
99. Dave Loebsack: 25%
100. Bill Foster: 25%
101. Gregory Meeks: 25%
102. Morgan Griffith: 25%
103. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: 24%
104. Ed Perlmutter: 24%
105. Robert Scott: 24%
106. Mark DeSaulnier: 24%
107. Lee Zeldin: 24%
108. Roger Williams: 24%
109. Gary Palmer: 24%
110. Richard Hudson: 24%
111. Hank Johnson: 24%

19

 112. Eliot Engel: 24%
113. Jackie Speier: 24%
114. Brad Schneider: 24%
115. Eddie Johnson: 24%
116. Maxine Waters: 24%
117. Doug Lamborn: 23%
118. Glenn Thompson: 23%
119. Bennie Thompson: 23%
120. Tom Reed: 23%
121. Suzanne Bonamici: 23%
122. Peter DeFazio: 23%
123. Linda Sánchez: 23%
124. Jerrold Nadler: 23%
125. Don Young: 23%
126. Michael Turner: 23%
127. Tom Marino: 23%
128. Mario Diaz-Balart: 23%
129. Austin Scott: 23%
130. Mark Pocan: 23%
131. Scott Peters: 23%
132. Sheila Jackson Lee: 23%
133. Don Bacon: 23%
134. Robert Latta: 23%
135. Mark Walker: 23%
136. Jaime Herrera Beutler: 23%
137. Chellie Pingree: 23%
138. Jeff Fortenberry: 23%
139. French Hill: 23%
140. Ted Budd: 23%
141. Alan Lowenthal: 23%
142. Vern Buchanan: 23%
143. Dave Joyce: 23%
144. Rick Crawford: 23%
145. Sean Duffy: 23%
146. Mark Meadows: 22%
147. Tony Cárdenas: 22%
148. John Ratcliffe: 22%
149. Tom Emmer: 22%
150. Zoe Lofgren: 22%
151. Ted Deutch: 22%

152. Jerry McNerney: 22%
153. Julia Brownley: 22%
154. George Holding: 22%
155. Derek Kilmer: 22%
156. Grace Meng: 22%
157. Brian Babin: 22%
158. Kurt Schrader: 22%
159. Ted Lieu: 22%
160. John Curtis: 22%
161. Bobby Rush: 22%
162. Gwen Moore: 22%
163. Susan Davis: 22%
164. Joe Courtney: 22%
165. Scott Tipton: 22%
166. Ann Wagner: 22%
167. Barbara Lee: 22%
168. Bill Johnson: 22%
169. Brian Higgins: 21%
170. Larry Bucshon: 21%
171. John Sarbanes: 21%
172. Rob Woodall: 21%
173. Phil Roe: 21%
174. Dan Newhouse: 21%
175. Mike Quigley: 21%
176. Kevin McCarthy: 21%
177. Jim Sensenbrenner: 21%
178. Doug LaMalfa: 21%
179. Lucille Roybal-Allard: 21%
180. Bill Keating: 21%
181. Brad Wenstrup: 21%
182. Donald Payne: 21%
183. Vicente Gonzalez: 21%
184. Rick Allen: 21%
185. Jared Huffman: 21%
186. Steny Hoyer: 21%
187. Steve King: 21%
188. Jim Cooper: 21%
189. Billy Long: 21%
190. Ed Case: 20%
191. Andy Harris: 20%

192. David McKinley: 20%
193. Jim Langevin: 20%
194. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: 20%
195. David Cicilline: 20%
196. Suzan DelBene: 20%
197. Tim Walberg: 20%
198. Donald Norcross: 20%
199. Ro Khanna: 20%
200. Roger Marshall: 20%
201. Kenny Marchant: 20%
202. Eric Swalwell: 20%
203. John Yarmuth: 20%
204. Rodney Davis: 20%
205. Gus Bilirakis: 20%
206. Adam Schiff: 20%
207. David Kustoff: 20%
208. Walter Jones: 20%
209. Michael McCaul: 20%
210. Thomas Massie: 19%
211. Pete Olson: 19%
212. Danny Davis: 19%
213. Ralph Norman: 19%
214. Vicky Hartzler: 19%
215. Bill Huizenga: 19%
216. Tim Ryan: 19%
217. G.K. Butterfield: 19%
218. Steven Palazzo: 19%
219. Steve Stivers: 19%
220. Lloyd Doggett: 19%
221. Henry Cuellar: 19%
222. Darin LaHood: 19%
223. Ken Calvert: 19%
224. Joe Wilson: 19%
225. Matt Cartwright: 19%
226. Steve Womack: 19%
227. Rob Bishop: 19%
228. Bradley Byrne: 19%
229. Duncan Hunter: 19%
230. Fred Upton: 19%
231. Will Hurd: 19%

20

 232. John Katko: 19%
233. John Carter: 18%
234. Rick Larsen: 18%
235. Scott DesJarlais: 18%
236. John Shimkus: 18%
237. Charlie Crist: 18%
238. Steven Chabot: 18%
239. Marcy Kaptur: 18%
240. Grace Napolitano: 18%
241. Mike Rogers: 18%
242. Thomas Suozzi: 18%
243. Ron Kind: 18%
244. Greg Walden: 18%
245. Mike Conaway: 18%
246. Adam Kinzinger: 18%
247. Chris Smith: 18%
248. Tom Cole: 18%
249. Jim Jordan: 18%
250. Steve Scalise: 18%
251. Andy Barr: 18%
252. Josh Gottheimer: 18%
253. Jason Smith: 17%
254. Betty McCollum: 17%
255. Kathleen Rice: 17%
256. Steve Cohen: 17%
257. Mac Thornberry: 17%
258. Jody Hice: 17%
259. Patrick McHenry: 17%
260. Markwayne Mullin: 17%
261. Brad Sherman: 17%
262. Mike Doyle: 17%
263. Jim McGovern: 17%
264. Frank Pallone: 17%
265. Hakeem Jeffries: 17%
266. André Carson: 17%
267. Mo Brooks: 17%
268. Susan Brooks: 17%
269. Mike Thompson: 17%
270. Louie Gohmert: 17%
271. Marc Veasey: 17%

272. Nydia Velázquez: 17%
273. Clay Higgins: 17%
274. Jim Banks: 17%
275. Mike Gallagher: 17%
276. Jan Schakowsky: 17%
277. Earl Blumenauer: 17%
278. Rosa DeLauro: 17%
279. Jeffrey Duncan: 16%
280. Mike Simpson: 16%
281. Mike Bost: 16%
282. Bob Gibbs: 16%
283. Anna Eshoo: 16%
284. Martha Roby: 16%
285. Salud Carbajal: 16%
286. Kevin Brady: 16%
287. Tom Rice: 16%
288. John Larson: 16%
289. Chris Stewart: 16%
290. Jim Costa: 16%
291. Bruce Westerman: 16%
292. Joe Kennedy III: 16%
293. Seth Moulton: 16%
294. Daniel Lipinski: 16%
295. Chuck Fleischmann: 16%
296. Paul Tonko: 16%
297. James Clyburn: 16%
298. Peter Welch: 16%
299. Jim Himes: 16%
300. Peter Visclosky: 15%
301. Devin Nunes: 15%
302. Carolyn Maloney: 15%
303. Collin Peterson: 15%
304. Cheri Bustos: 15%
305. Sam Graves: 15%
306. Kay Granger: 15%
307. Stephen Lynch: 15%
308. Michael Burgess: 15%
309. Trent Kelly: 15%
310. Garret Graves: 15%
311. Doug Collins: 15%

312. David Price: 15%
313. Virginia Foxx: 14%
314. Pete King: 14%
315. Daniel Webster: 14%
316. Al Lawson: 14%
317. Frank Lucas: 14%
318. Alex Mooney: 14%
319. Richard Neal: 14%
320. Yvette Clarke: 14%
321. Nita Lowey: 14%
322. Brett Guthrie: 13%
323. Sanford Bishop: 13%
324. John Lewis: 13%
325. Brendan Boyle: 13%
326. Raja Krishnamoorthi: 13%
327. Conor Lamb: 13%
328. Robert Aderholt: 12%
329. Bill Flores: 12%
330. Emanuel Cleaver: 12%
331. Tom Graves: 12%
332. Alma Adams: 12%
333. Adrian Smith: 11%
334. José Serrano: 11%
335. Dwight Evans: 11%
336. Trey Hollingsworth: 11%
337. Ralph Abraham: 11%
338. John Moolenaar: 11%
339. Hal Rogers: 10%
340. Terri Sewell: 9%
341. Kevin Hern: 8%
342. Jodey Arrington: 3%

10 or Fewer Nominations:
1. Carol Miller: 100%
2. Lucy McBath: 100%
3. Adriano Espaillat: 56%
4. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell: 50%
5. Nanette Barragán: 50%
6. Jimmy Gomez: 33%
7. Jefferson Van Drew: 30%

21

 8. Mary Scanlon: 30%
9. Michael Cloud: 20%
10. Debbie Lesko: 13%
11. Michael Waltz: 11%
12. Joe Morelle: 10%
13. Jennifer Wexton: 0%
Delegates:
1. Aumua Amata Radewagen: 55%
2. Jenniffer González-Colón: 26%
3. Eleanor Norton: 25%
4, Gregorio Sablan: 23%
5. Stacey Plaskett: 12%
This list does not include the 80
current Representatives who did
not appear in the FOIA data.

22

 REFERENCES
1

CVLC’s work has been repeatedly covered by Connecticut news organizations. See, e.g., Peggy
McCarthy, Can Legal Services Lead to Better Health Outcomes for Veterans?, CONN. HEALTH I-TEAM (Jan. 13,
2014), http://c-hit.org/2014/01/13/can-legal-services-lead-to-better-health-outcomes-for-veterans/
[https://perma.cc/YQ57-PKTY]; Lucy Nalpathanchil, Connecticut Law to Help Veterans Connect to Jobs,
College Credit, WNPR (June 11, 2014), http://wnpr.org/post/connecticut-law-help-veterans-connect-jobscollege-credit [https://perma.cc/A8P8-4WRB].
2
See, e.g., Denying Credit: The Failure to Transition Troops to Civilian Employment, CONN. VETERANS LEGAL CTR.
(Sep. 8, 2014), https://law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/Clinics/wirac_DenyingCredit.pdf
[https://perma.cc/B7YD-X7PM].
3
Veteran's Discharge Upgrade Manual, CONN. VETERANS LEGAL CTR. (2011),
https://law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/Clinics/wirac_CTdischargeUpgradeManual.pdf
[https://perma.cc/CR27-WX3S].
4
See, e.g., Ellen Lawton & Martha Bergmark, One Reason So Many Veterans Are Homeless? They Can’t Afford
Lawyers, WASH. POST (July 8, 2016),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/08/one-reason-so-many-veterans-arehomeless-they-cant-afford-lawyers/?utm_term=.9ad5131591f5 [https://perma.cc/ZAX2N5EY?type=image].
5
See James Dao, Major Military Academies Report Significant Rise in Applicants, N.Y. TIMES (June 17, 2009),
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/education/18academies.html [https://perma.cc/KM3V-VT97].
This report focuses on the military academies, which are a part of the Department of Defense. The other
two federal service academies, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and U.S. Coast Guard Academy, use
different nominations processes and are part of the Departments of Transportation and of Homeland
Security, respectively. For the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, a U.S. Representative can nominate a
candidate who resides in a district other than their own, as long as the district is still within the nominator’s
state. For the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, congressional nominations are neither required nor considered.
Apply for a Nomination, U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY , https://www.usmma.edu/admissions/applynomination [https://perma.cc/4T8C-NDD4]; Admissions, COAST GUARD ACADEMY,
https://www.uscga.edu/admissions/ [https://perma.cc/992J-MLWL].
6
See Hearing on Sexual Harassment and Violence at Military Service Academies Before the Subcomm. on Mil.
Personnel of the H. Comm. on Armed Servs., 115th Cong. (2017); Jeff Barker, Sexual Misconduct Has Reached
“Crisis” Point at U.S. Military Academies, Lawmaker Says, BALT. SUN (Feb. 13, 2019, 6:15 PM),
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-military-academies-sexual-assault20190213-story.html [http://perma.cc/K9K5-KU6H?type=image]; see also Helene Cooper et al., “I, Too,
Was a Survivor”: Senator McSally Ends Years of Silence, N.Y. TIMES (Mar. 26, 2019),
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/senator-martha-mcsally-rape-assault.html
[http://perma.cc/E5KV-XGRP].
7
We acknowledge that individuals fall outside of the gender binary as well. The FOIA data provided by the
service academies identified nominees only as “female” or “male,” which limited our analysis to those
categories.
8
The analysis of individual nominators excludes current Members of Congress who have made 10 or fewer
total nominations. There are 435 Representatives (notwithstanding Delegates) in the House, but the FOIA
data include only 342 current Representatives who have nominated more than 10 candidates to the
service academies. Likewise, there are 100 Senators in the Senate, but the FOIA data include only 91
current Senators who have nominated more than 10 candidates to the service academies,. However, some
aggregated data in the report include all nominators named in the FOIA data—355 Representatives, 5
Delegates, and 96 Senators. The year-to-year total (p. 6) and state-by-state analysis (p. 9) include all
nominators, including those with 10 or fewer nominations. Likewise, the year-to-year total and state-bystate analysis include House data for current Senators who have previously served in the House, while
analysis that singles out individual Senate nominators does not include their House nominations. In
addition, the FOIA datasets did not include some members of the freshman class of the 116th Congress

23

 because they have made no nominations at all. Lastly, the analysis includes the nominations data of former
Reps. Tom Marino (R-PA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) although Marino resigned in Jan. 2019 and Jones
passed away in Feb. 2019. Adam Levy, Pennsylvania Republican congressman resigns, CNN (Jan. 17, 2019),
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/politics/tom-marino-announces-resignation/index.html
[https://perma.cc/W26J-YREV]; Sarah Ferris, North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones dies at 76, POLITICO (Feb. 10,
2019), https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/10/walter-jones-dead-1162668
[https://perma.cc/NJ25-SGM6].
9
R. ERIC PETERSEN & SARAH J. ECKMAN, CONG. RESEARCH SERV., RL33213, CONGRESSIONAL NOMINATIONS TO
U.S. SERVICE ACADEMIES: AN OVERVIEW AND RESOURCES FOR OUTREACH AND MANAGEMENT 5 (2017).
10
For the appointment, number, and territorial distribution statutory requirements of the military service
academies, see 10 U.S.C. §§ 4342 (USMA), 6954 (USNA), and 9442 (USAFA).
11
PETERSEN & ECKMAN, supra note 9, at 1 n.1 (2017).
12
See Gregory Korte & Fredreka Schouten, Pride and Patronage: How Members of Congress Use a LittleKnown Power to Shape the Military and Help Their Constituents, USA TODAY (Sept. 15, 2014, 1:23 PM),
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/15/service-academies-congress-nominationarmy-navy/15452669/ [https://perma.cc/7D2H-8HHT] (finding that nominations sometimes go to
children of friends, political supporters, and campaign donors).
13
Beth A. Collier & Barbara K. Sams, Academy Admissions and Nomination Flow Chart, SAINT LOUIS PRIORY
SCH. & WHITFIELD SCH. OFFICES OF C. COUNSELING (Oct. 16, 2017),
https://mehlvillehigh.mehlvilleschooldistrict.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_125296/File/Military%20Aca
demy%20Nomination%20Flow%20Chart.pdf [https://perma.cc/3Z77-DXZS].
14
PETERSEN & ECKMAN, supra note 9, at 2.
15
James Dao, Survival of the Fittest, N.Y. TIMES (July 23, 2010),
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/education/edlife/25guidance-t.html [https://perma.cc/4KULDPUF].
16
Id.
17
Id.
18
Academy Nominations, SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/help/academynominations [https://perma.cc/Q29D-5NXL].
19
Military Academies, SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, https://www.harris.senate.gov/services/military-academies
[https://perma.cc/H988-53G9].
20
Academy Nominations, SEN. MARCO RUBIO, https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/academynominations [https://perma.cc/L82B-D7NX].
21
Service Academy Nominations, CONGRESSMAN JOHN CARTER, https://carter.house.gov/service-academynominations [https://perma.cc/T3WD-CE9M].
22
PETERSEN & ECKMAN, supra note 9, at 2.
23
Id.
24
Id. at 5.
25
Korte & Schouten, supra note 12.
26
Id.
27
Jack Bergman (R-MI) and John Rutherford (R-FL) have both nominated 22 women and 28 men. Likewise,
Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN) and Dwight Evans (D-PA) have each nominated 4 women and 33 men.
28
See 48 U.S.C. § 1731 (2018) (“The Territory of American Samoa shall be represented in the United States
Congress by a nonvoting Delegate to the House of Representatives . . . .”). For more on the legacy of U.S.
military service in American Samoa despite the territory’s exclusion from voting rights in Congress and the
presidency, see Maria Murriel, Millions of Americans Can’t Vote for President Because of Where They Live, PRI
(Nov. 1, 2016), https://www.wgbh.org/news/2017/03/03/millions-americans-cant-vote-presidentbecause-where-they-live [https://perma.cc/L2LN-ZC34].
29
FAQ: What You Should Know About the U.S. Service Academies, SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND,
https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Service_Academy_Nominations_FAQ.pdf
[https://perma.cc/P5GZ-5SSG] (emphasis added).
30
PETERSEN & ECKMAN, supra note 9, at 11-15 (2017).
31
In addition, according to the service academies’ data, there were six Members of Congress who served
as both a Representative and a Senator in the same Congress. Because it is not possible to determine

24

 which of their nominations were made in each position, the final rankings exclude any nominations made
in this scenario.
32
CVLC has appealed USNA’s failure to provide nomination data by Senator name.
33
Because each academy produced the data in a different format, this report required a significant time
investment in assembling, translating, and standardizing the data. For example, the USAFA FOIA office
produced image-only PDFs of their spreadsheets (not Excel-compatible), which could not be accurately
transposed using various proprietary text-recognition software. Transposition errors were checked and
corrected manually.
34
History of West Point, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY WEST POINT,
https://westpoint.edu/about/history-of-west-point [https://perma.cc/5W9L-Y9WE].
35
A Brief History of USNA, UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY,
https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php [https://perma.cc/D4HM-5W4G?type-image].
36
Air Force Academy History, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, https://www.usafa.af.mil/News/FactSheets/Display/Article/428274/air-force-academy-history/ [https://perma.cc/5H48-AJXF].
37
A Brief History of West Point, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY WEST POINT,
https://westpoint.edu/about/history-of-west-point [https://perma.cc/V97G-NGVJ].
38
Nelson Hernandez, Presidents on the Podium, WASH. POST (May 24, 2001),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/05/24/presidents-on-the-podium/4e76eb6e2620-496f-9f6b-127830690927/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.715286fb0cec [https://perma.cc/966WZXDK?type=image].
39
Andrea N. Goldstein, The Many Roles of Women in War: Sniper, Pilot, Death Camp Guard, N.Y. TIMES MAG.
(Aug. 29, 2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/magazine/women-world-war-ii.html
[https://perma.cc/EU9J-6SV3].
40
Id.
41
BETTIE J. MORDEN, THE WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS, 1945-1978, at 380 (2011).
42
Richard R. Heinzman, A Policy Analysis of the Admission of Women by the U.S. Military Academies, AIR WAR
C. (1986), https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a178124.pdf [https://perma.cc/D9KJ-7DYV].
43
Id. at 2.
44
Id. at 2.
45
Id. at 3.
46
Id.
47
Marc Leepson, Women in the Military, CQ RESEARCHER (July 10, 1981),
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1981071000 [https://perma.cc/UGE9-7T22].
48
Grace Lichtenstein, Sex Barrier Falls as Women Enter Air Force Academy, N.Y. TIMES (June 29, 1976),
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/29/archives/sex-barrier-falls-as-women-enter-air-force-academysex-barrier.html [https://perma.cc/7XC8-2XUG].
49
H. MICHAEL GELFAND, SEA CHANGE AT ANNAPOLIS: THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY, 1949-2000, at 126
(2006), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807877470_gelfand.
50
See Leepson, supra note 47.
51
See, e.g., Amanda Flegl, Up in Arms Over a Co-Ed Plebe Summer, SMITHSONIAN MAG. (July 2009),
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/up-in-arms-over-a-co-ed-plebe-summer-30290895/
[https://perma.cc/YXR5-LKNF]; Leepson supra note 47; see also Marcy Reborchick, AT THE GATES OF WEST
POINT WOMEN'S MEMORIAL (2007), https://www.womensmemorial.org/oral-history/detail/?s=at-the-gatesof-west-point [https://perma.cc/K9CF-AZE8]; Women Enter the Military Academies, THE WOMEN'S
MEMORIAL, https://www.womensmemorial.org/history/detail/?s=women-enter-the-military-academies
[https://perma.cc/V2F5-NPRM].
52
See Leepson, supra note 47.
53
Esther B. Fine, The Choice, N.Y. TIMES MAG. (May 5, 1985),
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/05/magazine/the-choice.html [https://perma.cc/D4FX-M8VW].
54
Grace Lichtenstein, A Year Later, N.Y. TIMES (Sept. 11, 1977),
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/11/archives/a-year-later-how-women-are-faring-at-the-airacademy.html [https://perma.cc/E49U-UCR3].
55
Id.
56
Id.

25

 57

Elizabeth Aguilera, Allison Sherry & David Migoya, Roots of Sexual-Abuse Problem at Air Force Academy
Run Deep, DENVER POST (Aug. 17, 2003).
58
Id.
59
Id.
60
Id.
61
Id.
62
Clara Bingham, Code of Dishonor, VANITY FAIR (Nov. 6, 2003, 12:00 AM),
www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/12/airforce200312 [https://perma.cc/TX7B-3Z7K].
63
Id.
64
U.S. DEP’T OF DEF., ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AT THE MILITARY SERVICE
ACADEMIES 10 (2016), https://sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/MSA/APY_1516/APY_15_16_MSA_Report_v2.pdf [https://perma.cc/HN47-6KDT].
65
Id. at 9.
66
Id. at 8.
67
Miles Moffeit & Amy Herdy, Air Force Academy Isn’t Alone in Sex-Assault Controversy, DENVER POST (Apr.
6, 2003).
68
See Lichtenstein, supra note 54.
69
Aguilera et al., supra note 57.
70
U.S. DEP’T OF DEF., 2017 SERVICE ACADEMY GENDER RELATIONS FOCUS GROUPS: OVERVIEW REPORT 8 (2017),
https://www.sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/MSA/APY_16-17/SAGR1701_Report_1.23.2018_FINAL.pdf
[https://perma.cc/N39H-4SZ4].
71
See Aguilera et al., supra note 57; see also Bingham, supra note 62; U.S. DEP’T OF DEF., supra note 70, at v.
72
U.S. DEP’T OF DEF., supra note 70, at 15.
73
For a timeline of the legal and policy changes affecting women in the military since 1947, see Women in
the Military: Where They Stand, SERVICE WOMEN’S ACTION NETWORK 5-16 (2019),
https://www.servicewomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SWAN-Where-we-stand-20190416revised.pdf [https://perma.cc/R8XL-B87V].
74
Ash Carter, Department of Defense Press Briefing, U.S. DEP’T OF DEF. (Dec. 3, 2015),
https://dod.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/632578/department-of-defensepress-briefing-by-secretary-carter-in-the-pentagon-briefi/ [https://perma.cc/9843-9KED].
75
Larry Abramson, West Point Women: A Natural Pattern or Camouflage Ceiling?, NPR (Oct. 22, 2013, 10:00
AM), https://www.npr.org/2013/10/22/239260015/west-point-women-a-natural-pattern-or-acamouflage-ceiling [https://perma.cc/D4VE-VYQ9].
76
2022 Class Portrait, U.S. NAVAL ACAD.,
https://www.usna.edu/Admissions/_files/documents/ClassPortrait.pdf [https://perma.cc/3RAV-5CJC];
U.S. Air Force Academy, The Class of 2022 Is the Most Diverse Class Ever Admitted To #USAFA, FACEBOOK
(July 2, 2018), https://www.facebook.com/122453658852/posts/the-class-of-2022-is-the-most-diverseclass-ever-admitted-to-usafa-a-few-stats-t/10155953385248853/ [https://perma.cc/3W44TS4E?type=image]; see U.S. Military Academy Public Affairs Office, Class of 2022 to Enter West Point,
POINTERVIEW (June 28, 2018), http://www.pointerview.com/2018/06/28/class-of-2022-to-enter-westpoint/ [https://perma.cc/8WWP-8435] (indicating that the incoming Class of 2022 had 294 women out of
“more than 1200” total cadets, leading to a conservative estimate of 294/1200, or 24.5%).
77
Class of 2017 Statistics, USNA NEWS CTR. (May 30, 2017, 9:44 AM),
https://www.usna.edu/NewsCenter/2017/05/class-of-2017-statistics.php [https://perma.cc/MN2X8UUD]; Air Force Academy Class of 2017 Graduates!, KKTV 11 NEWS, (May 24, 2017, 7:03 AM),
https://www.kktv.com/content/news/By-the-numbers-Meet-the-AFA-class-of-2017-424058814.html
[https://perma.cc/M3MA-SHMM]; 2017 USMA Graduation, DEF. VISUAL INFO. DISTRIBUTION SERV. (May 27,
2017), https://www.dvidshub.net/image/3427141/2017-usma-graduation [https://perma.cc/GR22H6VC].
78
Barker, supra note 6.
79
Tara Copp, Academy Sex Assaults Up 47% Since 2016, DoD Estimates, MIL. TIMES (Jan. 31, 2019),
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/01/31/dod-estimate-academy-sex-assaults-up47-since-2016/ [https://perma.cc/57JE-H4VC].
80
See Abramson, supra note 75.

26

 81

2018 ANNUAL REPORT, DEF. ADVISORY COMM. ON WOMEN IN THE SERVICES (DACOWITS) (Dec 11. 2018),
https://dacowits.defense.gov/Portals/48/Documents/Reports/2018/Annual%20Report/DACOWITS%20
Annual%20Report%202018.pdf?ver=2019-03-11-115325-640 [https://perma.cc/QBZ7-VMWN]
(identifying inadequate marketing and recruitment as an area of “continuing concern” hindering the
integration of women across the military).
82
See Abramson, supra note 75.
83
Today, women represent only 16% of enlisted forces. George M. Reynolds & Amanda Shendruk,
Demographics of the US Military, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS (Apr. 24, 2018).
84
Paul D. Shinkman, First Female Air Force Academy Superintendent Takes Command, U.S. NEWS & WORLD
REP. (Aug. 12, 2013, 3:16 PM), https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/08/12/first-female-airforce-academy-superintendent-takes-command [https://perma.cc/SN6P-25QV].
85
Elena Schneider, A Four-Star Female Admiral Makes History for the Navy, N.Y. TIMES (July 12, 2014),
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/us/12admiral.html [https://perma.cc/U8F4-V9LZ].
86
Richard A. Oppel, Jr. & Dave Philipps, 2 Women Set to Graduate from Ranger School Are Experienced
Officers, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 20, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/20/us/women-army-rangerschool-kristen-griest-shaye-haver.html [https://perma.cc/JAC8-XLPK]. Stigma has followed these women
even after earning the Ranger Tab. Instead of congratulating Haver and Griest, Oklahoma Congressman
and fellow Ranger School graduate Steve Russell pressed the Secretary of the Army John McHugh to turn
over all of the women’s test results, peer evaluations, and injury reports “to make sure that all of the
people who passed the course deserved to pass it.” Travis J. Tritten, Veteran Lawmakers Seeks Proof Women
“Deserved to Pass” Ranger School, STARS & STRIPES (Sept. 23, 2015),
https://www.stripes.com/news/army/veteran-lawmaker-seeks-proof-women-deserved-to-pass-rangerschool-1.369684 [https://perma.cc/QHG6-RTSV].
87
Brian Albrecht, Strongsville Woman Graduates at Top of Class at U.S. Military Academy, CLEVELAND.COM
(June 10, 2018), https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/06/strongsville_woman_graduates_a.html
[https://perma.cc/Z8DT-3DEJ].
88
This list does not include the following four current Senators who did not appear in the FOIA data: Mike
Braun, Josh Hawley, Mitt Romney, and Rick Scott.
89
This list does not include the 80 current Representatives who did not appear in the FOIA data:
Colin Allred, Kelly Armstrong, Cynthia Axne, James Baird, Anthony Brindisi, Tim Burchett, Sean Casten,
Gilbert Ray Cisneros, Jr., Ben Cline, TJ Cox, Angie Craig, Dan Crenshaw, Jason Crow, Joe Cunningham,
Sharice Davids, Madeleine Dean, Antonio Delgado, Veronica Escobar, Abby Finkenauer, Lizzie Fletcher,
Russ Fulcher, Chuy García, Sylvia Garcia, Jared Golden, Anthony Gonzalez, Lance Gooden, Mark Green,
Michael Guest, Debra Haaland, Jim Hagedorn, Josh Harder, Jahana Hayes, Katie Hill, Kendra Horn, Chrissy
Houlahan, Dusty Johnson, Mark Joyce, Fred Keller, Andy Kim, Susie Lee, Andy Levin, Mike Levin, Elaine
Luria, Tom Malinowski, Ben McAdams, Dan Meuser, Joe Neguse, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar,
Chris Pappas, Greg Pence, Dean Phillips, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Guy Reschenthaler, Denver
Riggleman, John Rose, Max Rose, Harley Rouda, Chip Roy, Michael San Nicolas, Kim Schrier, Donna
Shalala, Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin, Abigail Davis Spanberger, Ross Spano, Greg Stanton, Pete Stauber,
Bryan Steil, Greg Steube, Haley Stevens, Van Taylor, William Timmons, Rashida Tlaib, Xochitl Torres Small,
Lori Trahan, David Trone, Lauren Underwood, Steve Watkins, and Ron Wright.

27