Reports of sexual assault in military dropped for third year in a row: Pentagon

Reports of sexual assault in the U.S. military dropped for the third year in a row in 2025, and the Pentagon received a slightly lower number of sexual harassment complaints last year compared with 2024, the department said in a report that was made public Friday.

The Pentagon received a total of 7,998 reports of sexual assault in 2025, down from the previous year’s 8,195 reports. There were 8,515 reports of sexual assault in 2023 and 8,942 reports in 2022.

Out of the 7,998 reports in 2025, 5,022 were unrestricted reports and 2,976 remained restricted at the end of fiscal 2025, the Pentagon said in the 29-page report .

Unrestricted reports for sexual harassment or sexual assault are reported to the chain of command, and it results in an official probe, allowing service members to access mental healthcare and legal assistance.

“Dignity, respect and discipline are foundational to the warrior ethos and the overall preparedness of the force. Sexual assault and sexual harassment undermine these values, eroding trust and threatening the mission,” Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony J. Tata said in a statement .

“The FY 2025 report underscores our ongoing commitment to maintaining high standards, protecting our people, and building a unified, ready and lethal fighting force,” Tata said.

During 2025, the Pentagon received 2,936 sexual harassment complaints, a bit lower than in 2024 when the department got 3,014 complaints.

The Pentagon is obligated to send an annual report to Congress as outlined in Section 1631 of the 2011 Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act. The 2025 report was delivered to the Senate and House Armed Services committees, along with the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs panels on Aug. 10.

The Marine Corps had the highest percentage of women experiencing unwanted sexual contact out of the service branches with 6.4 percent, followed by 5.1 percent in the Navy and 4.5 percent in the Army. The Air Force was the lowest at 2.8 percent.

Among men, the Navy was the highest at 1.5 percent in 2025. The Army and Marine Corps were at 1 percent, the report said.

The Pentagon said the estimated rate of unwanted sexual contact for active-duty women fell from 6.8 percent in 2023 to 4.3 percent in 2025. A third of victims came forward last year, an increase from a quarter in 2023.

“This statistically significant decrease in estimated prevalence was mostly driven by fewer enlisted women (E1-E4 and E5-E9) and junior officer women (O1-O3) as well as women ages 35 and younger indicating past-year unwanted sexual contact on the survey,” the department wrote in the report.

About 1 percent of active-duty men indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact in 2025, a slight decrease from 2023 when it was at 1.3 percent.

Around 20,492 active service members — 9,860 active-duty women and 10,632 active-duty men — experienced unwanted sexual contact last year, a drop from 2023 when 29,061 active duty said the same.

Outside groups pointed to the 2025 figure being nearly 40 percent higher than in 2016, when it was 14,900, and last year’s numbers being roughly identical to 2018, with 20,500.

About a third of service members who indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact last year reported the incident to their authority, an increase from a quarter in 2023.

The Pentagon had “sufficient” evidence to take disciplinary action in 1,321 cases of individuals probed for an allegation of sexual assault, the department said in the report.

Josh Connolly, the senior vice president of Protect Our Defenders, a nonprofit group that works to end sexual misconduct in the military, said he would not take the Pentagon’s figures at “face value” and neither should the public.

“Survivors are more afraid to come forward than they were two years ago, and this administration has spent the past year giving them reason to be – rolling back whistleblower protections, making it harder to report anonymously, warning people who come forward that they may be punished for it,” Connolly said in a statement Friday. “A number that falls because people stopped talking is not progress.”

Early last year, the Navy halted sexual assault prevention and response training. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in October last year that he would revamp offices with the Pentagon’s inspector general office and the department’s equal employment opportunity office that allowed service members to anonymously file whistleblower complaints.

“Talk to those who do report,” Connolly said Friday. “The vast majority of those cases go nowhere. Documents get lost. Evidence never gets used. They’re handed from one lawyer to the next, or never get one at all. Then they’re pushed out and lose their medical and mental health care on the way.”