It’s been a year since a blue-ribbon commission on military suicide prevention issued its final report and a list of recommendations for major changes at the Pentagon. But many of its key recommendations — including the creation of a Pentagon-level office to coordinate the roughly 900 suicide prevention programs across the force — have not been implemented.
Now a U.S. senator is ratcheting up pressure on the Defense Department to set those proposed changes in motion. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., fired off a letter Wednesday after the Army reported that suicides among soldiers had reached a new all-time high.
“The Army’s recent announcement of 32 suicides in July — the highest on record — is a tragedy which demonstrates that the demanding challenge of suicide prevention continues to exceed the programs and policies currently in place,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Blumenthal’s letter comes as Stanley’s office is under investigation by the Defense Department Inspector General following complaints that his office was ineffective and has failed to take action on several initiatives, including the creation of a formal suicide prevention office.
Another task force recommendation called on military officials to investigate suicides more thoroughly in an effort to identify high-risk groups and more effective tactics for stopping them.A Pentagon spokeswoman said some of the suicide task force recommendations are being implemented.
“The department is aggressively pursuing strategies to get ahead of this problem and we are currently implementing several of the Task Force recommendations,” said spokeswoman Cynthia Smith. “These include enhancing our training and education practices, focusing on leadership building resilience among the force and improving available data to help identify predictive indicators.
“Finally, and in direct response to the task force, we are standing up the Defense Suicide Prevention Oversight Council to provide the senior leader focus this issue demands. Every suicide represents a tragic loss to our the department and nation,” Smith said.
By Andrew Tilghman, The Navy Times
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