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PEACE CORPS AT 50

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

MAY 11, 2011

Serial No. 112–16

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

RON PAUL, Texas 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

BILL JOHNSON, Ohio 

DAVID RIVERA, Florida 

MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania 

TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York 

RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina 

VACANT 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

DENNIS CARDOZA, California 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania 

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut 

FREDERICA WILSON, Florida 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

YLEEM D.S. POBLETE, Staff Director 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Ms. Lois Puzey, parent of late Peace Corps volunteer ......................................... 22

Ms. Carol Clark, former Peace Corps volunteer ................................................... 37

Ms. Jessica Smochek, former Peace Corps volunteer ........................................... 46

Karestan Chase Koenen, Ph.D., former Peace Corps volunteer .......................... 58

Ms. Jennifer Wilson Marsh, hotline and affiliate service director, RAINN ........ 73

The Honorable Aaron S. Williams, Director, Peace Corps ................................... 96

Ms. Kathy A. Buller, Inspector General, Peace Corps .......................................... 117

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Florida, and chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs: 

Statement from Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff, returned Peace Corp 

volunteers .......................................................................................................... 4

Letter dated May 6, 2011, from Building Bridges Coalition ............................ 12

Prepared statement .............................................................................................. 14

Ms. Lois Puzey: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 25

Ms. Carol Clark: Prepared statement .................................................................... 39

Ms. Jessica Smochek: Prepared statement ............................................................ 48

Karestan Chase Koenen, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ........................................... 60

Ms. Jennifer Wilson Marsh: Prepared statement ................................................. 75

The Honorable Ted Poe, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Texas: Questions/statement ................................................................................ 85

The Honorable Aaron S. Williams: Prepared statement ...................................... 99

Ms. Kathy A. Buller: Prepared statement ............................................................. 119

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 138

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 139

Written responses from the Honorable Aaron S. Williams to questions submitted for the record by: 

The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ................................................................... 141

The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey ................................................................................... 151

The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the 

Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement .............................................. 153

The Honorable Niki Tsongas, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Statement ........................................................... 154

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: Statement .......................... 157

(1)

PEACE CORPS AT 50

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2011

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room 

2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 

(chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. The committee will come to order. 

After recognizing myself and the ranking member, my good friend 

Mr. Berman of California, for 7 minutes each for our opening statements, I will recognize each member of the committee for 1 minute 

for their opening remarks. We will then hear from our witnesses. 

I ask that you summarize your prepared statements in 5 minutes 

each before we move to the questions and answers with members 

under the 5-minute rule. Without objection, the witnesses’ prepared 

statements will be made a part of the record. And members may 

have 5 days to insert statements and questions for the record subject to the length limitation in the rules. 

We apologize if it looks like it is a sparsely attended hearing. We 

have the GOP Caucus going on now, the Democratic Caucus, and 

about five different committees having briefings and hearings as 

well. So it will slowly build up. 

The chair now recognizes herself for 7 minutes. 

March 1st, 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Peace Corps. We initially planned to hold this hearing 

in March, but postponed it to accommodate the many anniversary 

celebrations. 

Over 200,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps. Today, 

there are over 8,000 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 77 countries. Three hundred of these volunteers are from the State of Florida, and 9 are from my own district. According to the Peace Corps’ 

facts and figures, 60 percent of current Peace Corps volunteers are 

female, and the average age of a Peace Corps volunteer is just 28 

years old. 

For half a century, Peace Corps volunteers have given their generous talents and skills to help the poor in developing countries, 

thereby increasing understanding between diverse cultures. For 

many, these Peace Corps volunteers serve as the only American 

faces to visit faraway places in distant lands, and volunteers 

should be proud of their accomplishments, as there are many to 

celebrate. 

In spite of these successes, it is time to examine how, after 50 

years, the Peace Corps is faring. In particular, we must review how 

2

the Peace Corps, as an institution, has supported Peace Corps volunteers. 

Despite critical reports by its own Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, and prior congressional hearings, Peace 

Corps’ safety and security failures have been a recurrent problem 

with tragic consequences for thousands of volunteers. Some who 

seek to ignore those problems have asserted that volunteer service, 

itself, is inherently risky as an excuse for lax and ineffective safety 

and security measures. That attitude is unacceptable. 

Clearly, the conditions under which Peace Corps volunteers serve 

present unique challenges. Volunteers are often deployed to areas 

with restricted access to reliable communication, with limited or no 

police or medical services. Volunteers may have only a basic understanding of local language and culture, and may be viewed as relatively wealthy—becoming targets for criminal activity. 

According to an April 2010 audit report by the Peace Corps Inspector General,

‘‘If compared to public colleges and universities, the Peace 

Corps would rank first for the most robberies, second for the 

most burglaries, and seventh for the most aggravated assaults. 

Further, in comparison to crime statistics reported by countries 

around the world, Peace Corps volunteers experience higher 

rates of rape and burglary than any of the 86 countries that 

responded to the United Nations crime statistics analysis.’’

Historically, the media have downplayed the dangers of serving 

in the Peace Corps, and have underreported and overlooked any 

criticism of the Peace Corps. Recently, this immunization has started to subside. 

In 2003, the Dayton Daily News released its seven-part series entitled, ‘‘Casualties of Peace.’’ Former Dayton Daily News Editor, 

Jeffrey Bruce stated,

‘‘The extent of this safety problem has been disguised for decades, partly because the assaults occurred thousands of miles 

away, partly because Peace Corps has made little effort to publicize them, and partly because the agency deliberately kept 

people from finding out—while emphasizing the positive aspects of the Peace Corps.’’

Earlier this year, on January 14th, the ABC television news program, 20/20, exposed the Peace Corps’ failures regarding the reporting of sexual assault and rape, which spurred many victims to 

come forward about the mishandling of their cases. According to 

dozens of disturbing affidavits received by our committee, the 

Peace Corps’ mishandling of rape and assault spans over four decades. Several of the affidavits are from volunteers currently serving 

in the Peace Corps. The affidavits received by the committee were 

obtained by First Response Action, a support group of volunteers 

who were victims of rape or assault. 

The affidavits establish five basic themes: Volunteers are generally inadequately trained on sexual assault issues; volunteers are 

often placed in dangerous situations; the Peace Corps’ in-country 

response often fails to meet survivors’ needs; upon return to the 

United States, survivors often receive hostile rather than supVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:41 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\051111\66292 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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portive treatment; and, lastly, institutional obstacles often prevent 

survivors from receiving long-term medical and mental health care. 

Without objection, I would like to include these affidavits into the 

official record. 

[NOTE: The Peace Corps volunteer affidavits are not reprinted 

here but are available in committee records and on the committee’s 

Web site.] 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. At this time, I would also like to include, without objection, a statement from returned volunteers, 

Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff, who have been advocates for 

reform to address problems with the Peace Corps, including safety 

and security. 

[The information referred to follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Further, without objection, I would 

like to include for the record a statement from the Building Bridges 

Coalition, a consortium of 300 international volunteer organizations, regarding Peace Corps safety and security. 

[The information referred to follows:]


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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Finally, I will be handing Mr. Williams a letter from a constituent of mine who was serving in the 

Peace Corps but was recently terminated. I am asking the Peace 

Corps to explain why it did not accommodate the medical concerns 

of this older volunteer. 

At our hearing today, three returned Peace Corps volunteers 

have made the difficult decision to testify about their traumatic experiences, and I commend them for their bravery, and continued 

commitment to effect positive change in the Peace Corps. 

We will also hear from the mother of a Peace Corps volunteer 

who did not return home. Lois Puzey will testify about her courageous daughter and how the Peace Corps failed Kate when she reported the rape and abuse of students for whom she cared so deeply. Following this testimony, we will hear from Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams, and the Peace Corps Inspector General Kathy 

Buller. Our goal is to find ways to address these problems so that 

future Peace Corps volunteers will not fear for their safety. 

And we are joined today—thank you, Senator Isakson from Georgia. We are joined by Senator Johnny Isakson, whose constituent 

is Lois Puzey. Senator Isakson’s presence is another indication of 

his commitment to securing justice for Lois’ daughter, Kate, who 

was killed during her service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin. 

And I understand that Senator Isakson will be traveling there next 

week to get a further update on Kate’s case. 

Now I am pleased to recognize my good friend, Ranking Member 

Berman for his opening remarks. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Ros-Lehtinen follows:]


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Mr. BERMAN. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

And thank you for calling this important hearing. And I want to 

second your commendation of Mrs. Puzey and the witnesses, other 

witnesses, who are coming forward to talk about something which 

cannot be that easy to talk about in such a public setting. We very 

much appreciate your courage in doing this. 

This year, as you noted, marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace 

Corps. Since its founding, nearly 200,000 volunteers have served in 

139 countries around the world, promoting community-based development, sharing American values, and enriching our own nation by 

bringing knowledge about other countries and cultures back to the 

United States. 

The distinguished list of Peace Corps alumni includes 15 Members of Congress, 4 current members; cabinet members; ambassadors; noted journalists; scientists; educators; and many others, 

who are leaders in their fields making an impact around the globe. 

No agency with such a modest budget has done more than the 

Peace Corps to extend America’s presence in nearly every part of 

the world. For that reason, it has enjoyed the strong support of 

both Republican and Democratic administrations. However, all of 

us were deeply troubled by the recent ABC news 20/20 segment, 

which detailed the circumstances surrounding the murder of a volunteer in the West African nation of Benin and the sexual assault 

of volunteers in a number of different countries. 

The Puzey family was not provided adequate support after the 

death of their daughter, from the manner in which they were notified to the way her personal effects were returned home to the lack 

of explanation of the circumstances that led to her murder. 

By failing to provide Ms. Smochek with the protection she had 

requested or removing her from her site, Peace Corps left her open 

to an attack that could have cost her life. By providing inadequate 

training to Peace Corps staff and volunteers on how to prevent and 


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respond to sexual assaults, the volunteer community is left vulnerable to physical and psychological trauma. 

We have a profound obligation to our volunteers to do everything 

possible, not only to improve their safety and to prevent these 

crimes from occurring but to respond effectively in emergency situations. There is no excuse for failing to treat survivors with dignity 

and compassion or for leaving families in the dark. 

Our job today is to identify the gaps and flaws in the current system, and lay the groundwork for fixing them in a reasonable bipartisan manner. The brave and selfless men and women who chose 

to spend more than 2 years of their lives as volunteers, often in 

some of the most remote places on Earth, deserve nothing less. 

Indeed, the volunteers are and always will be the Peace Corps’ 

most precious asset. Is the agency doing all it can to protect them? 

Is it minimizing risks the volunteers face in the field? Is it providing the kind of training, preparation, and support they need for 

emergency situations? Is it using the best protocols to respond to 

sexual assault and protect survivors? When the worst happens, are 

they treating the families with compassion and respect? 

To help answer some of these questions, we are honored to have 

with us today the mother of Kate Puzey, the volunteer murdered 

in Benin, and several former volunteers that were the victims of 

sexual assault. We know it takes enormous courage for you to tell 

your stories in this very public setting, as I mentioned. 

We all share the goal of making the Peace Corps of the next 50 

years even better than the Peace Corps of the last 50. It is now our 

duty to ensure that this agency lives up to the idealism, innovation, 

and generosity embodied in the volunteers. 

Finally, let me just say that it takes a certain kind of person to 

join the Peace Corps, a certain pioneering spirit, to leave behind all 

the comforts they have known for their entire lives and enter the 

unknown to serve others. These individuals live with those who are 

less fortunate than themselves. They see the poverty that grips billions around the world and join them in their struggle to make a 

small business work, make their crop yields better, gain access to 

clean water, combat deadly and debilitating disease. For this service, it is not only the United States but the world that owes Peace 

Corps volunteers a debt of gratitude. 

I hope we can learn today about how to improve the Peace Corps 

and work together in the bipartisan manner that has always 

marked our approach to the agency. We must do this to honor the 

courage of the people who are speaking out on these issues, to acknowledge the others who have yet to come forward and to respect 

the legacy of an agency that has done so much good in the world. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I look forward to the witnesses’ 

testimony. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Berman. 

The members are recognized for 1 minute for opening statements 

if they choose to. Congressman Gallegly of California? 

Mr. GALLEGLY. In the interest of time so we can get to our witnesses, I would yield. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Congressman Sires of New Jersey? 

18

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member Berman, 

for holding this, today’s hearing. 

Earlier this year the Peace Corps celebrated its 50th anniversary. We have had over 200,000 volunteers serving in over 139 

countries. I am incredibly proud for the volunteers’ service and the 

lasting contribution you are making to improve the lives of people 

in communities where you are serving. Because of my strong support for the work of the Peace Corps, I am very concerned about 

the history of safety and security that threatens the Peace Corps 

volunteers all over the world. 

I am looking forward to hearing from Director Williams and Inspector Buller about the progress made by Peace Corps regarding 

volunteer safety. And I would like to thank former Peace Corps volunteers for being here today to share the stories with us. 

And I also am interested in knowing what the process is when 

a volunteer is in danger. How do you remove that volunteer from 

a dangerous place? I am very curious how you determine that. 

And I yield back. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Judge Poe of Texas? 

Mr. POE. Thank you, Madam Speaker. 

Peace Corps, those American angels abroad, the best we have in 

this country. They represent everything that is good and right 

about this nation. And you are sitting right here on the front row. 

Thank you for your service and your courage. 

And when you go abroad, a Peace Corps volunteer goes abroad, 

and a crime is committed against them, this nation needs to be 

very proactive in making sure that you are taken care of. Too often 

in the affidavits that I have read, the Peace Corps volunteer when 

assaulted becomes the accused. Peace Corps has blamed you for the 

crimes committed against you. 

As a former judge, let me just say this. Sexual assault is never, 

never the fault of the victim. And our system, our country must totally support victims abroad, take care of them, bring them back, 

give them justice because justice is what we do in this country. 

Thank you for being here. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Just the way it is. Thank you, Judge. 

Mr. Cicilline, Rhode Island? 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I thank you 

for holding this hearing and thank our ranking member. I welcome 

the witnesses. 

And I want to apologize in advance. I am not able to stay for the 

entire hearing. But I want to assure you that I have read all of the 

written testimony and will follow up with you. But I really want 

to thank you for being here to share these stories. I think we all 

recognize the Peace Corps has done extraordinary things, as Mr. 

Berman described. But this is a serious issue. 

I am proud that in my district, we have Brown University, which 

ranks right near the top in terms of providing volunteers to the 

Peace Corps. We have a responsibility to ensure that every single 

person who makes the sacrifice to serve in the Peace Corps, that 

we do everything we can, everything humanly possible to assure 

their safety. 

19

And the testimony that you provided in your written testimony 

is very disturbing to me and I think to all members of this committee. And I thank you for being here to share your stories and 

thank you for your service to our country. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Ms. Schmidt of Ohio? 

Ms. SCHMIDT. Thank you. And, first off, I want to thank these 

brave women that are here before us, Ms. Smochek, Ms. Clark, and 

Ms. Koenen, and, most importantly, Mrs. Puzey, for what you have 

given in order to allow peace to go abroad. You know, 60 percent 

of the folks that are in the Peace Corps are women. And you are 

truly angels and ambassadors. 

And your three-pronged mission of a better understanding of 

Americans to help people understand the folks in America and 

abroad, that is commendable. But when you go over there, you are 

supposed to go over there knowing you are going to be safe, and 

that if something is to happen to you, that you are going to be 

taken care of. And I think that is the big blemish in this whole debate. 

I live close to Dayton. I read that article many years ago and 

couldn’t believe that it was happening. And now that I serve in 

Congress, I have the ability to do something about it. With your 

help, we will. 

Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Jean. 

Ms. Wilson of Florida? 

Ms. WILSON. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member 

Berman, for holding this hearing. 

Founded 50 years ago, in 1961, by John F. Kennedy, the Peace 

Corps has sought to meet its legislative mandate of promoting 

world peace and friendship by sending American volunteers to 

serve at the grass roots level in villages and towns and corners of 

the globe. Living and working with ordinary people, volunteers 

have contributed in a variety of capacities, such as teachers, environmental specialists, health promoters, and small business advisers, to improving the lives of those they serve and helping others 

understand American culture. 

To date nearly 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers have served in 

139 countries. About 8,655 volunteers currently serve in 77 nations. In September 2005, Peace Corps response volunteers were 

deployed to assist Hurricane Katrina relief, the first time in Peace 

Corps history that volunteers were used domestically. More recently, they are serving in Haiti. And thank you. 

While these volunteers serve our nation and our interests today, 

we will hear terrible stories of sexual assault and abuse to Peace 

Corps volunteers. It is important that we learn and know what 

changes the Peace Corps has done in the wake of these charges. 

Is a sexual assault protocol developed by the Peace Corps sufficient? And what can we do to keep our volunteers safe? 

I look forward to the witness testimony. And thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Ms. Wilson. 

Mr. Marino of Pennsylvania? 

Mr. MARINO. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

20

As a former state and Federal prosecutor, I want to know why 

these good people were treated like they were and why these 

crimes weren’t prosecuted and taken to the fullest extent. 

I yield my time. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Higgins of New York? 

Mr. HIGGINS. I thank the chair and just to thank the witnesses 

for being here. And the Peace Corps has done extraordinary work 

throughout the world for the past 50 years. We have an obligation, 

morally and otherwise, to ensure their safety. It is not what America does or says throughout the world. It is what America does. 

And the Peace Corps for 50 years has been the embodiment to the 

great, generous spirit of the American idea. 

So I look forward to the hearing. And I yield back my time. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania? 

Mr. KELLY. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

And, to the witnesses, I want to thank you so much for coming 

forward and having the fortitude to do it. It has got to be very difficult. As a father and a grandfather, I can tell you after reading 

your testimony I cannot believe that we put you in such danger 

and treated you so poorly. So I will tell you that I will dedicate my 

time—I have only been here 3 months—to following up on this and 

making sure that at any time this ever happens again, we follow 

through the way we need to follow through and keep our promise 

to you the way you kept your promise to our country. 

I yield back my time. I look forward to your testimony. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Very good. Thank you. 

Mr. Connolly of Virginia? 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

And, again, I want to express my welcome and appreciation for 

the courage of the women who have joined this panel today. Their 

stories are compelling and need to be addressed. 

I also think, as the ranking member indicated, that this is the 

50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. And, as Judge Poe said, Peace 

Corps makes us proud as Americans. Its presence overseas has 

been a marvelous testament about democracy, not in the abstract 

but in the faces of the men and women who have served, 200,000, 

as Mr. Sires said. 

Sadly, we can’t protect all of those volunteers, but the goal ought 

to be to do just that, to bring the risk factor to zero. We will never 

quite get to zero, but we need to explore today what we can do to 

ensure that this never happens to another volunteer and that, God 

forbid, when it does, the full brunt of U.S. resources on behalf of 

justice and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the crime are at 

work. So making Peace Corps even better ought to be the subject 

of this hearing and not cloud the 50 proud years of an organization 

that has done so well to the United States. 

And I thank the chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Dana Rohrabacher of California? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. One of the frustrating aspects of my job is 

that I have two hearings at exactly the same time that are both 

really important. I will be coming back and forth, but I will be 

21

reading your full testimony. I want to thank you for coming forward. 

And I think it is a sad commentary that women who went overseas to serve our country and to serve others found out when their 

most important time of need happened, that we weren’t there. 

Their government was not there to serve them when they needed 

it the most. So I thank you for coming forward. You are going to 

permit us to perhaps correct a bad situation. That is what this is 

all about. And thank you for coming forward with your testimony. 

And thank you, Madam Chair, for calling the hearing. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Ms. Bass of California? 

Ms. BASS. Yes, Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I would first like to commend the strength of the women before 

us for your courage to come forward and advocate on such a delicate and important issue. I appreciate you coming to Washington 

this week to speak to Members of Congress and our staff and for 

testifying during this public hearing. 

I know that you have all endured great hardships from these experiences and should be commended for your bravery and perseverance in ensuring that future generations of Peace Corps volunteers 

don’t have to go through what you did. You inspire all of us with 

your actions and commitment to the Peace Corps, the vision of 

service and world diplomacy. We are grateful for your service during your time in this program and thereafter. 

And I look forward to trying to understand what we can do to 

make sure the situation does not continue. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, ma’am. 

As I had pointed out in my opening remarks, Senator Isakson of 

Georgia is the senator who represents the Puzey family and would 

like to—we would be honored to give you a minute, Senator, to talk 

about Kate’s case and anything you can help us with. Thank you 

for going back there next week and trying to see justice come. 

Mr. ISAKSON. Madam Chairman and Congressman Berman, 

thank you very much for holding this hearing. I did not know Kate 

Puzey in life, but I attended her funeral service and met her coworkers and her family and heard about her extraordinary service 

to America and the pride she brought to my State of Georgia. And 

I made a commitment that I would do everything I could to see to 

it that Lois Puzey and her family first found closure and, second, 

the dissatisfaction that they had made an effort to see to it that 

what happened to Kate never happened to anybody again. 

I am personally very grateful to each and every one of you for 

being here. I know the demands all of us have on our time. This 

is one of the most important things we can for the Americans and 

for the continuing integrity of the Peace Corps. 

I am very honored you gave me a chance to speak. Thank you, 

Madam Chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, very much, Senator. 

Thank you. 

And now I would like to welcome the witnesses for our first 

panel. Our first witness, Lois Puzey, is the mother of Catherine 

Irene Puzey, or Kate, who was murdered in Benin on March 12, 

2009, while serving in the Peace Corps. Mrs. Puzey is here to serve 

22

as Kate’s voice, and to help prevent other families from experiencing tragedies like hers. 

Mrs. Puzey married her husband in 1976 and had 2 children: 

David and Kate. Mrs. Puzey retired in 2006 from the Department 

of Defense school system after teaching military dependents for 30 

years at both Augsburg High School in Germany, and Kadena Middle School in Okinawa, Japan. 

I would like to express on behalf of our committee our sincerest 

condolences to you and your family, Mrs. Puzey. And thank you for 

appearing before us today. 

Next we will hear from Carol Clark. Ms. Clark served as a Peace 

Corps volunteer in Nepal from 1984 until ’85. She is currently an 

elementary school teacher in Jones County, North Carolina. She received her master’s degree in counseling and a bachelor’s degree in 

biology from Wake Forest University. She has served her community in many ways, including as a child enforcement agent and a 

community college counselor. 

Ms. Clark, I would like to thank you for your bravery in sharing 

your experiences, we greatly appreciate your testimony this morning. 

Also appearing before the committee today is Jessica Smochek, 

who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh in 2004. She is a 

board member of First Response Action, a non-profit organization 

that seeks change in the Peace Corps’ sexual assault policies, and 

that provides assistance for former Peace Corps volunteers who 

have been victims of traumatic crime. 

Ms. Smochek, thank you also for the courage to come before our 

committee today. 

Next we will hear from Karestan Chase Koenen. Dr. Koenen was 

a Peace Corps volunteer from ’91 to ’93. She is a licensed clinical 

psychologist and she studies the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the production of stress-related mental disorders, 

such as posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, 

and depression. 

Dr. Koenen, we are honored to have you here today. 

Finally, we welcome, Ms. Jennifer Marsh. Ms. Marsh currently 

works for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN, 

the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN manages the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline and coordinates 

services and communications with over 1,000 affiliate sexual assault service providers for the National Sexual Assault Telephone 

Hotline. 

Thank you for taking the time to appear before us today, Ms. 

Marsh. 

All of your statements have been made a part of the record and 

we ask that you summarize your statements to 5 minutes. 

Mrs. Puzey, we will begin with you. Thank you. And if you could 

put your microphone close to your mouth, that helps us to hear 

you. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF MS. LOIS PUZEY, PARENT OF LATE PEACE 

CORPS VOLUNTEER 

Mrs. PUZEY. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Berman, 

and committee members, my name is Lois Puzey. And I am here 

23

today on behalf of my daughter Kate Puzey, who was murdered 

March 12, 2009 while serving with the Peace Corps in the West African Nation of Benin, and to urge Congress to enact legislation so 

that other families won’t have to endure a similar tragedy. 

Kate was a deeply compassionate, talented, upbeat person with 

a gift for understanding others. She was twice elected student 

council president in high school and graduated at the top of her 

class. After college, she joined the Peace Corps, serving as a teacher in a rural village. 

Kate loved her time in Benin. She built close ties to her village. 

And she was considered a model volunteer. So how did a competent 

model volunteer become the victim of murder? 

From the beginning, Kate was warned about the man who is now 

accused of killing her, Constant Bio, a local who taught in Kate’s 

school. And he also worked part-time for the Peace Corps. Kate 

was told that Mr. Bio pressured students for sex and had bothered 

children with them. 

Over time, her concern escalated. And then in February 2009, 

students and fellow teachers told Kate that Mr. Bio had actually 

raped two of his students and begged her to help. Despite the potential danger, Kate tried to do the right thing. Since her village 

had no Internet service and she was 12 hours away from the Benin 

country office, she traveled to the nearest work station, where she 

e-mailed the Peace Corps country director, asking for her assistance. Kate particularly emphasized the need for confidentiality because she understood that the brother of Mr. Bio worked in that 

same country office as the Peace Corps director. 

Tragically, the way that Kate’s e-mail was handled ultimately led 

to her death. The country director fired the accused without talking 

to Kate or without taking any kind of precautions or doing any 

kind of investigation on her own. She didn’t take any precautions 

to remove Kate from her village. And, even worse, the Inspector 

General’s report indicates that Kate’s confidentiality was broken, 

apparently resulting in Mr. Bio’s brother telling him about Kate’s 

e-mail. 

Kate was never alerted to the danger. Within a few days, she 

was murdered, it is believed by Mr. Bio and another man, both of 

whom were arrested along with Mr. Bio’s brother. 

Kate was the heart of our family. And our lives have been shattered. 

The Peace Corps was very supportive during the funeral and 

made great efforts to honor her. That being said, we were shocked 

by many of our experiences with them after Kate’s death. The 

Peace Corps provided us with very little information. They refused 

to answer our questions about the Inspector General’s investigation 

and stopped all communication with us after 4 months, leaving us 

by ourselves to piece together what happened to our daughter. 

Then 6 months after she died, her belongings arrived unaccompanied, simply left in our driveway in a FedEx delivery. 

Finally, we discovered that before Kate’s death, the Peace Corps 

had no whistleblower protections or training procedures in place. 

These were first drafted 2 weeks after she died. 

Feeling abandoned, in 2010, we created our own advocacy group 

and have since had very improved relationships with the Peace 

24

Corps, thanks to the leadership of Director Williams. However, the 

Peace Corps has never acknowledged the critical role it played in 

Kate’s death. And we are also very painfully aware that if ABC’s 

20/20 had not investigated her murder, we would not have heard 

from them. 

Our family deserves an honest acknowledgement and formal 

apology from the Peace Corps for any actions that contributed to 

our daughter’s death. 

After our experiences and hearing many other stories, we also 

believed that whistleblower and victims’ rights legislation are urgently needed. In the past, the Peace Corps has believed, as I believe the present administration believes, that they have solved the 

problems, but, in truth, because of the transient nature of the leadership, efforts have eroded time after time. We do not want another 

family to endure the nightmare that we live daily, made worse by 

the recent news that those responsible for Kate’s murder could go 

free. Legislation is the only way to ensure reforms remain consistent over time. 

We still support the Peace Corps and understand the instinct to 

protect it, but by not acknowledging and addressing its systemic 

weaknesses, that doesn’t help. That doesn’t help the Peace Corps, 

nor its volunteers. Instead, please build a stronger, safer Peace 

Corps by passing legislation. 

In the future, there will be another volunteer like my Kate, who 

will want to do the right thing. Honor Kate’s sacrifice by doing the 

right thing now so that future volunteers can serve safely. 

[The prepared statement of Mrs. Puzey follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. And we will do 

so. Thank you. 

Ms. Clark? 

STATEMENT OF MS. CAROL CLARK, FORMER PEACE CORPS 

VOLUNTEER 

Ms. CLARK. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. If you could push that middle button 

there and then hold it really closely to your mouth? 

Ms. CLARK. Thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Berman, committee members. 

My name is Carol Clark. I am a school teacher, a former Peace 

Corps volunteer, and a rape survivor. I thought I was alone in my 

experience, but when I learned that women today are still living 

through what I thought had been remedied decades ago, I knew I 

had to come forward. 

In August 1984, 3 months after I graduated from college, I flew 

to Nepal ready to begin my lifelong dream of becoming a Peace 

Corps volunteer. The Peace Corps staff never talked to us about 

protecting ourselves from sexual harassment or assault. I never expected that it was the Peace Corps’ own staff members from whom 

I would need the most protection. 

Shortly after I arrived, our supervisor, the Nepalese Peace Corps 

program director, told female volunteers he expected sex in exchange for providing us with our living supplement checks. We told 

our Peace Corps country director about this, but he did nothing. He 

told us to grow a thicker skin and allowed the program director to 

continue supervising us. 

Three months later, the program director raped me. Devastated 

and humiliated, I reported the rape to the Peace Corps medical officer. Instead of helping me, he told me he was disgusted with the 

volunteers and anything that happened to us was our own fault. 

I was not offered counseling. 

The Peace Corps allowed my program director to continue supervising volunteers. And before the Peace Corps would assign me to 

a supervisor other than my rapist, I was forced to confront him in 

front of the Peace Corps medical director, who had chided me. 

Being forced to see this man again, to speak to him, and to convince the Peace Corps he had raped me was extremely traumatic, 

but I did it. 

The Peace Corps took no action against my assailant, even after 

the forced confrontation. In fact, soon after I returned to service, 

he arrived unannounced at my village. It was clear he told his 

friends in the village they could violate me without fearing repercussions from the Peace Corps. He was right. 

Soon after he left, a Nepalese official with whom I had worked 

told me my Peace Corps friend had told him how I like to have fun 

and demanded sex. When I refused, he picked up a knife, grabbed 

my neck, and choked me. He forced me to put a used, torn condom 

on him and began raping me. For the next 15 hours, he raped and 

beat me. For a long time, I prayed to live. And after that, I prayed 

to die. 

When I finally escaped, I took my bike and rode, ran, and waded 

my way to Janakpur. From there I flew to Kathmandu, where I reVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:41 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\051111\66292 HFA PsN: SHIRL
38

ported the rape. The medical officer was angry with me for putting 

myself in a dangerous situation. He did not document the crime. 

And my attacker was not brought to justice. 

The Peace Corps flew me back to Washington, DC, instructing 

me to tell others I was leaving because of dysentery. The program 

director who had initially raped me was given my home address 

and assigned to collect and mail me my belongings. 

After I left, so many Nepal volunteers had been sexually assaulted or sexually harassed that they created their own safety 

survey. It showed numerous volunteers had been verbally and 

physically harassed and three more had been raped. They and I 

sought change from the Peace Corps. 

My former Peace Corps regional director told me our stories had 

made a difference, the Peace Corps was creating new training materials and future volunteers would be safer, better prepared, and 

better treated. I believe the Peace Corps wanted to change then, as 

it does now, and that some improvements have been made, but the 

women sitting next to me prove those improvements were lacking. 

In the last 20 years, according to Peace Corps’ own data, Peace 

Corps volunteers reported more than 1,600 incidents of sexual assault, over 1,000 of which occurred in the last decade. Sadly, the 

three most recent years for which Peace Corps has released statistics have seen the greatest number of assaults. 

Director Williams is a good man, but the Peace Corps has had 

almost 30 years since I was a volunteer to fix things on its own. 

And it has fallen short. The women trusting their lives to the Peace 

Corps cannot wait decades more for Peace Corps policies to organically mature. They need the immediate, permanent, and meaningful change that comes through legislative accountability. For that, 

we look to you. 

Please help us build a better, stronger, safer Peace Corps so that 

our daughters can help the Peace Corps build a better world. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Clark follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Smochek? 

STATEMENT OF MS. JESSICA SMOCHEK, FORMER PEACE 

CORPS VOLUNTEER 

Ms. SMOCHEK. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen? 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Hold it closer to you. Thank you. 

Ms. SMOCHEK. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Berman, committee members, my name is Jessica Smochek. I am a 

former Peace Corps volunteer and a Peace Corps rape survivor. 

Thank you, Congressman Poe, Congresswoman Tsongas, and all 

of you who have been working hard to make the Peace Corps better, stronger, and safer for volunteers. 

In 2004, I was 23 years old. Fresh out of college, I joined the 

Peace Corps, an organization I admired for its noble ideals, and set 

off for Bangladesh. The Peace Corps said we might experience harassment during our posting but that it just took some getting used 

to. This statement did not prepare us for the realities we would 

soon face. 

Shortly after I arrived, for example, a group of six local men 

began following me home. Eventually they surrounded me, grabbed 

me, knocked me to the ground, and began touching and kissing me. 

I was terrified and helpless. Eventually they simply left. 

When I reported this, the Peace Corps staff told me those types 

of things just happened. Over time, the harassment only increased. 

My site mates and I reported this to the Peace Corps staff as well, 

but most of our reports went unanswered. 

A male volunteer offered to teach us self-defense, but the Peace 

Corps rejected this offer. We asked for pepper spray or mace, but 

the requests were denied. We begged to be moved to a safer site. 

Again the Peace Corps refused. 

Soon the very act of reporting incidents to the Peace Corps was 

very dangerous. Locals who learned of the reports became furious. 

They told me and my site mates it would hurt me if I didn’t keep 

quiet. We reported these threats, too, although with each report, 

the men grew angrier. And the Peace Corps did nothing. 

Then on December 6, 2004, shortly after 5 o’clock p.m., the men 

dragged me into an abandoned courtyard. And the violence began. 

They started by raping me. And they forced other objects inside of 

my body. And when they were done violating me with their bodies 

and their objects, they intensified their physical assault. They 


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yelled insults and threatened to kill me. I began to think it would 

never end. And so I begged them for the death they promised. They 

just laughed. And after what seemed like a lifetime, my ordeal was 

over or so I thought. 

I went to the capital to report the rape, but the Peace Corps 

medical officer did not examine me, perform a rape kit, or collect 

any evidence. Instead, she took away my cell phone. This, unfortunately, prevented me from warning other volunteers and my site 

mates about what had happened. In fact, she told me that if I did 

talk to other volunteers, that I should tell them that I was going 

to Washington to have my wisdom teeth taken out. 

Before leaving Bangladesh, I was forced to go back alone to my 

village, where my rapists remained, to gather my belongings and 

spend the night there one last time. Then, still reeling from the 

trauma, I was put on a plane alone back to Washington, DC. 

The Peace Corps didn’t send me home or give me the option. And 

so I stayed in Washington, DC, for the next 45 days. When I arrived in DC late at night, no one was there to meet me at the airport. I was forced to find my way through this large, unfamiliar 

city on my own. 

The Peace Corps first sent me to a male gynecologist. He was insensitive, and it was excruciating. The Peace Corps also required 

me to meet with a counselor, who made me write down everything 

I had done wrong for this to occur. As examples, she suggested that 

I had been out after 5 o’clock p.m., I hadn’t screamed, and that I 

didn’t fight back. Rather than feeling safe and supported, I felt belittled and blamed. 

After 11⁄2 months in DC, I was medically separated from the 

Peace Corps and shunted onto Worker’s Compensation. There I 

have been repeatedly forced to describe my injury on forms and to 

strangers to get the support I need to recover. It can take months 

or years to receive reimbursement. This must be changed so that 

survivors do not have to go from agency to agency fighting for help 

they need to recover. 

I wish what had happened to me had made a difference for the 

other volunteers in Bangladesh, but shortly after I left, the country 

director without my permission told the female volunteers I was 

raped, that it was my fault, and rape was always a woman’s fault. 

Years later, I learned at least three other women in my volunteer 

group were sexually assaulted and probably because of what the 

country director had said that day did not report it. The Peace 

Corps must change. Women must be better protected from rape 

and from the callous treatment that too often follows them. 

Maya Angelou said, ‘‘History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot 

be unlived but if faced with courage need not be lived again’’ I am 

hopeful that today’s hearing will precipitate the much needed 

change in Peace Corps’ sexual assault policies and that my nightmare need not be lived again. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today and for 

bringing these very important issues to light. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Smochek follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

Dr. Koenen? 

STATEMENT OF KARESTAN CHASE KOENEN, PH.D., FORMER 

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER 

Dr. KOENEN. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Berman, 

committee members, my name is Dr. Karestan Koenen. I am an 

Associate Professor at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor——

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Could you put the microphone just a 

little bit closer to your mouth so we can hear you better? 

Dr. KOENEN. Sorry. Yes. I am an Associate Professor at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor at Harvard University. I 

teach about psychological trauma. My understanding of and my 

passion for the topic are the result both of my education and, unfortunately, my own experience with the Peace Corps. 

I joined the Peace Corps in 1991. It was clear from the beginning 

that my country, Niger, was dangerous. Also clear was the Peace 

Corps staff inadequacy in dealing with the effects of danger on volunteers. For example, 1 week during our in-country training period, several men broke into our site, assaulted two male volunteers and raped a female volunteer. 

I recall telling my site director that I felt unsafe, but I was told 

that I was making too much of what had happened. The Peace 

Corps staff then instructed us not to tell our families about the attacks. 

The staff’s instructions to calm down and keep quiet were the 

only training we received on how to respond to an assault. Despite 

the fact that serious crimes had occurred on the training compound, we did not receive any training on how to minimize the risk 

of assaults or how to report them should they occur. 

On December 27, 1991, I was forced to learn by experience about 

the dangers of sexual assault. A Nigerian man held me down, 

ripped off my shorts and underwear, and raped me. 

The doctor who worked for the Peace Corps was kind but neither 

trained nor equipped to perform a forensic rape exam. No one gave 

me the opportunity to make a formal statement or to speak with 

law enforcement. And although the doctor reported the rape to the 

Peace Corps’ country director, he did not visit me, he did not call 

me. I was soon put on an international flight to Washington, DC, 

alone. 

Upon arriving at Peace Corps headquarters, I was greeted with 

a cold reception. I was first sent to a male gynecologist. I recall 

finding the pelvic exam incredibly painful and him telling me to 

stop being hysterical and to just calm down. 

I was then sent to speak with a Peace Corps staff investigator, 

who said, ‘‘I am so sick of you girls going over there, drinking, 

dancing, and flirting. And then if a guy comes on to you, you say 

you have been raped.’’

My final straw was when my Peace Corps country director said 

to me when I wanted to prosecute, ‘‘It is your word against his. He 

said you wanted to have sex, and we believe him.’’

59

As an expert in the field of psychological trauma, I know how 

dangerous an inadequate response to the rape victim can be. Fear 

of being disbelieved or blamed, as I was by the Peace Corps, is exactly why so many survivors do not report their rapes. 

The Peace Corps’ own data suggests two times more assaults 

occur in the Peace Corps than those that are reported. In addition, 

over a decade of research has demonstrated that the social support 

a survivor receives in the aftermath of a trauma highly influences 

the risk that the victim will develop post-traumatic stress disorder. 

A negative social response leaves a survivor in a quagmire of selfblame for the rest of her life. 

I have examined the current sexual assault protocols and policies 

of the Peace Corps. And though they have evolved since my time 

of service, they remain dangerously inadequate. 

Several other experts have reviewed the Peace Corps’ 2011 sexual assault guidelines, as I did, and have written letters to the 

committee expressing their concerns with the policies and their recommendation for change. I am including these letters for the record 

as part of my testimony. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

[NOTE: The letters offered by Dr. Koenen are not reprinted here 

but are available in committee records.] 

Dr. KOENEN. The affidavits and letters from other experts make 

it clear that it is time for a systemic, permanent solution that addresses better training for volunteers, training for in-country staff, 

and appropriate vetting and accountability for staff in the United 

States. 

Of these needed reforms, there are eight things the Peace Corps 

could do right away to dramatically increase and improve the care 

provided to its volunteers. They are, one, discontinue the use of 

Peace Corps’ current sexual assault training video called ‘‘Serving 

Safely’’ that shows survivors apologizing for endangering themselves and causing their rapes. 

Two, put victims’ advocates in every region. I am pleased that 

the Peace Corps has hired a victims’ advocate in DC, but caring for 

the in-country and post-service needs of what are at least 100 sexual assault a year is too great a burden for one person to carry. 

Three, provide travel companions for rape and sexual assault 

survivors returning home to the U.S. 

Four, eliminate the harmful and minimizing distinction used in 

the Peace Corps’ own materials to distinguish major sexual assault 

from minor sexual assaults. 

Five, set up a task force with the Department of Labor to determine how to help survivors get adequate and timely benefits without being forced to reexperience their traumas. 

Six, enlist the help of outside experts with authority to ensure 

Peace Corps policies continually reflect best practices. 

Seven, provide survivors the choice of treatment providers. 

And, eight, fire the staff and treatment providers who blame victims and harm them. 

I believe Director Williams to be well-intentioned, but we simply 

cannot ignore history. The Peace Corps has promised time and 

time and time again to fix these problems, and it has not. We need 

Congress. 

60

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about my experience and my hope for a better, stronger, safer Peace Corps. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Koenen follows:]


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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you for those recommendations. 

Very useful. 

Ms. Marsh? 

STATEMENT OF MS. JENNIFER WILSON MARSH, HOTLINE AND 

AFFILIATE SERVICE DIRECTOR, RAINN 

Ms. MARSH. Good morning, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Member 

Berman, and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you 

for inviting me to speak today. 

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to commend the 

women who have spoken before me for their courage and eloquence. 

My name is Jennifer Wilson Marsh, and I am the National Sexual Assault Hotline director at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault 

organization. RAINN is recognized by the Justice Department and 

Congress as a leader in the field of sexual assault services and has 

provided thousands of hours of training and technical assistance to 

sexual assault service providers across the country. 

In addition, RAINN has been selected to be a member of the Justice Department’s National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium and has assisted more than 1.5 million people affected by sexual violence through the national sexual assault hotlines. 

I will begin by outlining several best practices used in serving 

victims of sexual violence. Peace Corps has a long history of successfully promoting peace around the world. And we believe that if 

applied correctly, these best practices can strengthen the Peace 

Corps organization and their response to victims. 

I will follow this with a description of how RAINN is currently 

working with Peace Corps and conclude with my recommendations. 

The following best practices are drawn from Department of Justice standards. Accessibility of quality advocacy services following 

an assault is paramount. The value of these services is lost if victims do not know of their existence. 

Peace Corps volunteers need to receive through layered and repeated trainings information describing services available to them 

in the event they are assaulted. This training should also include 

a comprehensive overview of issues surrounding sexual violence 

and risk reduction strategies. We are familiar with the bystander 

intervention training that Peace Corps is currently developing for 

volunteers and believe that this is an effective model for risk reduction. 

All staff members who may be first responders should receive a 

minimum of 40 hours of training and complete annual refresher 

courses. Training should focus on the special needs of sexual violence victims and be reinforced by all Peace Corps administrative 

policies and procedures. 

A sexual response team, or SART, model is the most effective approach when responding to sexual assault victims. A SART is most 

typically comprised of a victim advocate, law enforcement, and a forensic medical examiner. This approach is a streamlined response, 

thereby minimizing victim retraumatization. And it creates a singular point of contact, allowing the victim to focus on their recovery. 

74

Without a guarantee of confidentiality, victims may not be willing to seek help for fear that their experience will be scrutinized. 

Control over personal information is not only a matter of privacy; 

it is also a matter of personal safety. It should be made clear during all trainings how information disclosed will be maintained and 

shared. 

Through the national sexual assault online hotline, we have seen 

the importance of safe and secure help. With confidential services, 

victims can discuss concerns and are more likely to report the 

crime or seek long-term support. 

Finally, there needs to be a clear grievance procedure for victims 

who feel as though they were treated poorly by staff or did not receive an adequate response following their assaults. 

On March 23rd, 2011, RAINN and the Peace Corps signed a 

memorandum of understanding, or MOU, to collaborate and share 

educational resources and training tools on sexual assault risk reduction and response. 

Since the signing of our MOU with Peace Corps, we have been 

asked to review training content and procedures. While Peace 

Corps is still in the process of updating and improving their response to victims of sexual assault, we believe that they are moving 

toward implementing some of these best practices. 

As the Committee on Foreign Affairs is charged with general 

oversight of the Peace Corps, we believe it should do the following: 

Enact legislation that will ensure that Peace Corps adopts established best practices in victim response and include a mechanism 

for formalized succession planning, to address high staff turnover 

due to mandated appointment limits. 

We recommend Peace Corps expand on the progress already 

made with the hiring of a victim advocate with the addition of mobile victim advocates. These trained staff would be able to immediately travel to the location of a volunteer who has been assaulted 

and provide on-the-ground help, completing the SART model. The 

staffers in this position should be experienced in navigating foreign, legal, and cultural systems, and victims will benefit from having an advocate negotiate the unique challenges of being victimized 

abroad. 

In conclusion, we believe that Peace Corps is making positive 

steps in improving its response to victims of sexual assault. The 

areas of staff and volunteer training, accessibility of services, and 

clear confidentiality policies are basic tenants of effective service 

provision for victims of sexual violence. 

There are best practices already in existence in the field of victim 

services that can further assist Peace Corps in updating these aspects of their programs. Implementing these recommendations will 

help ensure victims will have access to the quality services they 

need and deserve. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Marsh follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much to all of you for 

your brave testimony. Thank you for appearing before our committee today. Your testimony is going to make a big difference. 

Mrs. Puzey, I wish to offer you my most sincerest condolences on 

the loss of your brave daughter. Your testimony will change the 

way that business is being done in the Peace Corps. You are very 

brave to come before us. I am sorry you only have 5 minutes to describe what a dreadful life-changing experience it has been for your 

family. 

And I know that the criminal case is about to begin in your 

daughter’s case. I don’t know if that is true, but I don’t want your 

testimony to have any negative influence on that. Perhaps you 

could explain to us what you think in detail needs to change in the 

Peace Corps that would prevent such a terrible travesty to occur 

again. 

Mrs. PUZEY. Well, as I said in my testimony, I really feel like 

that it is important to have those whistleblower protections in 

place and also training procedures and not just training procedures, of course, for the volunteers so they know their avenues, 

they know how to report, but it is also very important the staff 

does know what to do, particularly people in positions like the 

country director, so that they will know how to handle a situation 

when it comes to them. I think that is very, very important. 

And then, of course, on the other side, to be sensitive to victims’ 

families, I have always said that Peace Corps—you know, when everything is going right, the Peace Corps is one of our country’s best 

ideas, but, you know, when things go wrong, that is where that 

component, that response component, needs to be improved. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Koenen, I wanted to ask you about the blaming the victim 

and how that would impact the recovery of victims of assault, sexual assault, or any kind of crime committed against them. One of 

the themes in the testimony that we have heard is that the Peace 

Corps was not equipped to handle the complaints, did not act on 

it, the accusations were not taken seriously, and, more than anything, it was the blame the victim that was at play here. 

Can you tell us how blaming the victim impacts the recovery of 

the victims of sexual assault? 

Dr. KOENEN. Yes. Thank you, Chairman. The social support or 

the reaction that a survivor receives in the acute aftermath of an 

assault, so immediately within hours, 24 hours, is the key factor 

in determining whether she or he will have long-term mental 

health consequences or not. And the reason is that in that acute 

period, the victim is incredibly vulnerable. She is in fight or flight 

mode. And she is playing over in her head ‘‘Why did this happen 

to me? How did this happen to me?’’

And it is by nature when something terrible happens, we question ourselves and we question our behavior. And then when you 

meet a provider, who, rather than ask you questions about ‘‘How 

can we keep you safe? What do you need? Here are some choices 

on what you would like to do,’’ the blaming the victim just adds to 

that questioning of your own behavior and you end up internalizing 

that blame. And psychologically that can keep you from talking to 

anyone else about it. It can keep you from seeking help that you 

81

need because you are worried that other people are going to respond the same way. And long term it can negatively affect your 

mental health. 

It is a big predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, 

blaming the victim after assault increases the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder more than the characteristics of the assault, 

more than whether the victim is physically injured, more than 

whether there is penetration or not. It is really the key factor in 

whether the victim will recover or not. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

And, lastly, Ms. Smochek, I wanted to allow you to comment on 

the type of safety and security information that was included in 

your handbook and welcome materials. Did you find that to be useful? 

Ms. SMOCHEK. In my handbook, there was just a very general 

fact sheet I would say. There was no clear-cut who to call when 

something happens. There were no steps in place. You know, if a 

crime is committed, who do you call? Where do you need to go to 

find it? You know, how do you find a safe place? How is your confidentiality going to be kept? None of that was in there. You know, 

buried deep within the packet was a number for I believe the OIG’s 

office in Washington, DC. 

So as a survivor, you know, after you have been raped and sexually assaulted, to have to go through your handbook to try to find 

a number to call in DC is ludicrous. Many volunteers don’t have 

cell phones or cell phone, you know, don’t have electricity or capability to make that type of phone call. So I feel that it was very 

inadequate. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Thank you, ladies. 

Mr. Berman? 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

And I just want you to know that I think your testimony today 

and the other things you have done will work to empower other victims and also I think have helped to motivate the Peace Corps to 

make sure that people who will suffer from your experience get the 

assistance that they are entitled to. 

And, Mrs. Puzey, I just want you to know I think the world will 

miss your daughter’s hope and sense of community and her commitment to public service. We all lose when a young person with 

such energy and promise is taken from us. 

Ms. Marsh, you touched on this in your testimony, but could you 

take a moment just to talk about your evaluation of what the Peace 

Corps is starting to put in place once again and what they need 

to do and particularly focus on this issue of whether one person 

based in Washington with this responsibility is enough or do we 

need—you talked about a notion of roving personnel that can go to 

the site and make sure that the country director, the program director, the people involved, the medical officer, are operating correctly. 

Ms. MARSH. In terms of the work that we have done with Peace 

Corps so far, I was invited several weeks ago to participate in their 

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duction or prevention of sexual assault. And I found that to be a 

really positive experience. 

In terms of the victim advocate, I do feel like having the victim 

advocate here in DC is a step in the right direction. However, as 

mentioned by the women before me, I feel as though having somebody on the ground in person is crucial and somebody who doesn’t 

have collateral duty. 

So cross-training a medical officer to also be a victim advocate or 

security officer to be a victim advocate I don’t feel is adequate. I 

believe the victim advocate needs to be solely responsible for the 

entire and holistic approach to case management and victim services. So if it is having a victim advocate here who oversees victim 

advocates in the field, whether they are mobilized when an assault 

occurs and can travel to accompany the victim or if they are based 

in the region, I believe those are different options to explore, but 

I believe that that is imperative to a successful sexual assault response. 

Mr. BERMAN. And then I would like to ask any of the witnesses 

if Congress based on what we have heard today and other information about this decides to embark on a legislative implementation 

and mandate for the best practices that Ms. Marsh talked about to 

become the enforced policy of the Peace Corps to institutionalize it, 

as a number of you have mentioned, like us, directors come and go 

and creates an institutional basis for these best practices and funds 

what needs to be done here, do you think that that can significantly reduce the situations that you found yourselves in or should 

we just end this program? 

Dr. KOENEN. I would like to speak to that. I am sure the other 

witnesses would as well. I want to say I love the Peace Corps and 

I support the Peace Corps. And I would be devastated if my testimony were used to stop Peace Corps funding, cut funding, or eliminate the Peace Corps. 

What we want is a stronger, safer Peace Corps. What we need 

is legislation to cement the changes that RAINN and First Response Action have recommended so that when directors come and 

go, when times change, when budget priorities change, that crime 

is prevented and victims are treated adequately so that they can 

have the best chance at recovery. 

And I can speak in my case. If the changes proposed by First Response Action and the ones I outlined in my testimony were in 

place, they were legislated when my assault occurred, my recovery 

would have been faster and much better because every single thing 

they recommended would have completely changed my experience 

with Peace Corps DC. Just the implementation of regional victims’ 

advocate would have transformed all of our experiences. 

And I know that budget priorities are tight right now, but the 

cost of doing nothing is far higher. You see the cost in the witnesses for today. 

Mr. BERMAN. Anyone else in the 15 seconds I have left? 

Ms. CLARK. I would like to say that I would be heartbroken for 

my testimony to be used to destroy an institution that I absolutely 

love. I still believe in the ideals of the Peace Corps. We as an agency of Peace Corps are there to show the rest of the world the best 

parts of the United States. Peace Corps is there to make changes 

83

in the world for better, to provide education, to provide ways for 

people to learn to have a decent living, income that will promote 

communities around the world to become more economically selfsufficient. 

I do not have the goal of destroying the Peace Corps. My goal is 

to make the Peace Corps better, to help them provide better responses. We can’t stop all sexual assaults and violence from occurring. The key is to provide strong, effective best practices when 

problems do occur. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Judge Poe? 

Mr. POE. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you once again for 

holding this hearing. 

And I appreciate all of you all for being here today. I appreciate 

your courage. But also, Ms. Clark, I appreciate your service in the 

Peace Corps. I agree with you totally and the doc here that the answer is not to get rid of the Peace Corps. The answer is to make 

it better and safer for, as I say, America’s angels abroad. That is 

who you all are. And Kate was the same way. 

Mrs. Puzey, what is the one thing you want to hear from the 

Peace Corps Director? 

Mrs. PUZEY. Well, Director Williams did give us an apology, but 

the apology that we have heard from the Peace Corps has been if 

there was anything that we felt was not compassionate, they are 

very sorry. And I have never doubted the compassion of Director 

Williams or the present staff. But what we really would like to 

hear is an apology and to acknowledge any actions on the part of 

the Peace Corps that were responsible for my daughter’s death. 

Mr. POE. I hope you get that apology from the Peace Corps. 

Mrs. PUZEY. Thank you. I do, too. 

Mr. POE. Dr. Koenen, let me ask you something about the victims of sexual assault. And I think it is awful that the sexual assaults occur. A hundred and twenty-two occurred in the Peace 

Corps that they admit in 2009 overseas. But this is a unique crime 

in my opinion based on my experience on the bench in Texas for 

a long time, because of the way it affects the emotional stability or 

the inner spirit of a crime victim. 

Would you agree or not—and elaborate—on the fact that victims, 

like Peace Corps victims that are sexually assaulted, want the 

Peace Corps and us to give them validation for what happened to 

them; in other words, to support their side, so to speak, as opposed 

to immediately distancing them from us and making them at fault, 

making them feel that it is their fault that a crime was committed 

against them? Is that part of what we need to do as a society and 

the Peace Corps to support the validation of what they say? 

Dr. KOENEN. Absolutely. Victims of sexual assault, all victims of 

sexual assault in the Peace Corps, need to know from their initial 

contact with someone after the assault that the Peace Corps is on 

their side, that they are not the criminal. I think in all of our cases, 

we have felt like we were the criminals. And rape is always the responsibility of the perpetrator. 

The Peace Corps needs to change the culture so that victims 

know that the Peace Corps is on their side. And that is crucial for, 

84

as you know from your work, crucial for the recovery of the victim. 

It is essential. And it is a unique crime in that way. 

Mr. POE. Do you think that the Peace Corps as we see it now, 

based on your all’s testimony and things that you are aware of, 

needs really a change in mindset, that the Peace Corps needs to 

have a mindset different about when crime is committed against a 

Peace Corps volunteer somewhere in the country, somewhere in the 

world and, rather than say, ‘‘Oh, don’t say anything. We might 

hurt our diplomatic relationship with this Third World country,’’ 

and all of these other excuses you have heard? Do we need a 

mindset in the Peace Corps, do you think, change in mindset? 

Dr. KOENEN. The Peace Corps needs a change in mindset and a 

change in culture from victim blaming to supporting victims. And 

we are all fond of talking about the Peace Corps family. And we 

need to act like a functional family in which if one of us is hurt, 

the family comes to our support, rather than treating us like criminals. 

Mr. POE. Ms. Marsh, a couple of questions. Do you think that we 

can fix this problem and support the Peace Corps internally; in 

other words, change policy in the Peace Corps, or do we need legislation? 

Ms. MARSH. I do believe that we need legislation, again, as we 

have mentioned before, because of the appointment turnover. We 

have heard in our meetings with Peace Corps about programs or 

policies that may have been done previously, but it was unclear 

who was responsible for them or the people that were responsible 

for them have since left. So I think that legislation is the best way 

to guarantee that these best practices stay permanent, in place, 

and institutionalized through all layers of the Peace Corps. 

And along with that notion is the training, not only of first responders, country directors, but anybody in the Peace Corps who 

may come into contact with a victim. And the training should be 

layered throughout the Peace Corps experience, not just one singular training on this issue. 

Mr. POE. Thank you. 

Madam Chair, without objection, I would like to introduce three 

other statements from Peace Corps volunteers that have come to 

my attention, but they want to keep their names anonymous. And 

I would like to submit their stories for the record. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

[The statements offered by Mr. Poe follow:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Judge. Without objection. 

Mr. POE. And I yield back my time. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Wilson of Florida? 

Ms. WILSON. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

My question is for Ms. Marsh, I guess, who is representing the 

Peace Corps. And I have a map in front of me that sort of outlines 

the places where these rapes have occurred. And rape is a horrible 

crime. It is tantamount to death in my opinion. It is just the killing 

of the spirit, of the soul of women. 

I am just wondering about the local governments. Is there any 

sort of a compact or contract assigned between local governments 

and the officials, especially those that are highlighted in red and 

purple, where most of these rapes have occurred? 

And some of them are not that far from the United States. I am 

looking at the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica. They are in 


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red. So if these places are this dangerous, what about the local law 

enforcement and the local elected officials in those countries that 

are responsible for law and order in their respective provinces or 

countries? Is there ever any communication with these people 

pressing charges just as if these people were murdered? 

Ms. MARSH. I would just like to clarify before I respond that I 

am not representing Peace Corps. I am representing RAINN, the 

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. 

Ms. WILSON. Okay. 

Ms. MARSH. So I am going to defer that question to Director Williams and also agree with you that rape and sexual assault is a 

horrible crime. According to the FBI, it ranks only to homicide in 

terms of trauma. 

Dr. KOENEN. I would like to defer to Director Williams to talk 

about the specific arrangements in different countries, but I think 

that what Congress can do and where we can make effective 

change is through legislation here that will change the Peace 

Corps’ response to rape. 

And, as I mentioned in my testimony, there are three things 

that—I said eight things, but there are three things that can be 

done right now. They can stop the video that they are showing, 

‘‘Serving Safely,’’ that blames victims for their assaults. They can 

end this major and minor distinction of a sexual assault that is 

again victim-blaming. And I would like to hear a definition from 

them of a minor sexual assault. And they can provide care and 

travel companions for survivors. 

And those are immediate things that can be done right now 

while legislation dealing with local law enforcement is very important but a long-term more complex process. 

Ms. WILSON. Just a follow-up question. Is there ever any contact 

at all with—you are talking about intervention after it has happened. What I am trying to ask a question about is prevention. 

How do we threaten these countries, to say, ‘‘We are not sending 

women to be raped if this doesn’t stop?’’ I mean, ‘‘We will pull all 

of our Peace Corps volunteers out’’ or are there any sorts of threats 

or any level that these countries were—and I am talking about the 

purple and the red. 

If you have this map in front of you. It is unconscionable that 

these many people are being victims and victimized in these countries. Is there any warning that this is a dangerous place to send 

Peace Corps volunteers who are women? 

That is what I am asking: Prevention. I understand what you 

mean about intervention and what is happening after these rapes 

occurred, but how do we help prevent some of this? I am at a loss. 

Dr. KOENEN. In terms of prevention, what we have talked about, 

what RAINN talked about, was bystander intervention training 

with volunteers. Again, the video I have talked about pulling is 

part of their prevention training. 

And I think that the best prevention is that Peace Corps can 

start treating victims of sexual assault with respect and set an example for people in these countries of how the U.S. expects its volunteers to be treated. If the Peace Corps is mistreating its own victims, then how can we demand the people in these countries to 

treat the women any better? 

89

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Schmidt of Ohio? 

Ms. SCHMIDT. Thank you. And, first off, the courage of the 

women up here is astounding. And I hope that the Peace Corps 

takes note of it. 

I have never been so incensed and so enraged at an agency. My 

rage began before your testimony when I had a constituent a few 

years ago that just needed to come home 2 days early for her sister’s wedding. Her father had died. But the inflexibility of the 

Peace Corps disallowed her to come home, and she quit the Corps. 

And at that time, I thought to myself, ‘‘They have really got to 

get a grip.’’ Well, it is a major grip, not a minor grip, because my 

message is every woman has the right to say no, no matter how 

the act occurs or at what point the act is occurring. 

And this isn’t just an American right. This is a human right. And 

when you go overseas, you are not just representing American 

rights and values. You are representing human rights and values. 

And it is incumbent upon the Peace Corps to understand its own 

mission. And I applaud you for wanting the Peace Corps to continue while you were so violently attacked and no one came to your 

aid. 

Mrs. Koenen, Dr. Koenen, I applaud what you are saying about 

changing this video. It needs to be done today, not tomorrow, but 

today, that there is no difference between major and minor assault. 

An assault is an assault. And when it does happen, and you have 

to go back home, sometimes 12–15 hours overseas, you need a companion with you right there. Those are easy fixes. And I want to 

work with you for legislation to put the Peace Corps on the right 

track to protect you. 

And, Mrs. Puzey, before I finish, I just want to ask you, what do 

you want from us here today? 

Mrs. PUZEY. Whistleblower protection rights and victim rights 

legislation, both. 

Ms. SCHMIDT. Whistleblower rights, protection rights, victim 

rights? 

Mrs. PUZEY. Yes. 

Ms. SCHMIDT. I think we can work on that. 

And, Madam Chairman, I yield back my time. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Ms. Schmidt. 

Mr. Connolly of Virginia? 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

And, again, thank you to all of you for your courage in your testimony here today. And, Mrs. Puzey, our hearts go out to you and 

your family. And I hope this hearing gives some small comfort that 

your daughter’s memory is not lost and that working together, we 

can try in her memory to make the Peace Corps stronger and more 

compassionate. 

It seems to me that—you know, I have worked with the Peace 

Corps for a long time here on the Hill. And I have traveled to 

many, many Peace Corps missions abroad, met with many volunteers. And your stories are, if you will, sort of an under side of the 

Peace Corps that obviously troubles all of us. 

And we can’t make everybody 100 percent safe everywhere. It is 

not that kind of world. And, frankly, the work of the Peace Corps 

90

puts people in much riskier situations. I mean, I have a daughter 

at a university here in America. And, sadly, what you described 

sometimes occurs in U.S. campuses as well. But there is counseling. There are training and awareness programs. There are prevention programs. 

And I guess what troubles me the most about your testimony 

was that there was, frankly, lacking a standard of compassion 

when somebody signs up as a volunteer and their family supports 

that effort, understanding the risks. And God forbid something 

goes wrong. 

It seems to me that we drop everything as a Peace Corps family, 

as you said, Dr. Koenen, and we respond. We take care of the family. We do everything in our power to make sure the system of justice in the host country is working on behalf of that volunteer and 

his or her family and that everybody in the chain of command, 

from the medical director to the country director to the people back 

here, is clued in, is genuinely compassionate and sensitive and 

working on your behalf. That is the standard we have to reach. 

We can legislate. And it sounds today like we need to. But at the 

end of the day, inculcating that compassion, that empathy, that understanding that, as Judge Poe said, you know, rape is never the 

victim’s fault—we can never accept that—has to be cleared from 

our minds and the proper perspective adopted always and zero tolerance for any variation from that standard. 

I know we are going to hear later from Director Williams about 

reforms and measures he has put in place. And I have heard the 

appreciation of Mrs. Puzey for those efforts. And I know that we 

can and will have to go further. 

But I just want you all to know that on a bipartisan basis, we 

continue to support Peace Corps, as do each and every one of you, 

but we are also going to make sure that, God forbid—well, first of 

all, we are going to do everything we can to try to make sure that 

we are cognizant of risks and dangers. And we are going to minimize them, the goal being to try to get to zero risk. We know that 

is an elusive goal, but that ought to always be what we are pushing 

ourselves toward. And then should something happen, the full force 

of compassion and resources of the Peace Corps and, indeed, of the 

United States Government are behind you and your families. 

Thank you for your testimony today. And I yield back, Madam 

Chairman. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Buerkle? 

Ms. BUERKLE. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

And I would like to thank all of our panelists today for coming 

here and for sharing your testimony. As a woman and a mother of 

four children, a grandmother of three granddaughters, it is appalling to me. And it breaks my heart to hear what you have gone 

through. And, Mrs. Puzey, my deepest condolences on the loss of 

your daughter as well. 

I would like to join in with my colleagues here. And it will be 

a bipartisan effort to get the legislation in place to do what we 

need to do to make our volunteers safe and to change what is happening within the Peace Corps. 

91

I have spent over 14 years with pro bono advocacy in domestic 

violence. So I have a keen awareness that, as my colleague just 

stated, rape is never the victim’s fault. And it cannot be that mentality. And that mindset must never be accepted. So I will work 

hard with my colleagues to get this legislation passed. 

I would like to ask, Dr. Koenen, with regards to healing and recovery, is that possible? And what can we do to help the victims 

who are suffering? 

Dr. KOENEN. Healing is absolutely possible, as is recovery. I 

think you can see that from the women, the testimonies of the people here who were able to be here and to testify as part of our recovery. 

In terms of what we can do, putting the things in place to support a victim’s recovery starts before an assault even occurs. That 

is why we keep reiterating stop victim blaming; training materials; 

change the mentality of the Peace Corps to one that supports victims from one that blames victims and this distinction between 

major and minor sexual assault, again which is victim blaming; set 

in protocols into place in terms of confidentiality so people know 

their confidentiality will be respected and that we have control over 

who our stories are told to; provide a support person to travel back 

to the country; provide adequate support once the victim is back in 

the country; the victims’ advocate to coordinate services across all 

of these complex systems. So all of those things can aid in recovery. 

The initial response of Peace Corps staff is key in that. 

One of the things I want to assure anyone, not just Peace Corps 

volunteers, who have experienced a sexual assault is that recovery 

is 100 percent possible. 

Ms. BUERKLE. I just want to comment that I understand your 

commitment to the Peace Corps. And I understand your desire not 

to see the Peace Corps disrupted. But, as my colleague Jean 

Schmidt said, this has to stop. And this legislation and our efforts 

need to start today, now so that we can make the changes required 

to prevent any more harm from being done. 

Again, thank you all very much for your courage for being here 

today. And we will look forward to working with you. I yield my 

time. Thank you, Madam Chair, for——

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Mr. Payne? 

Mr. PAYNE. Let me thank all of you for coming. I am familiar 

with your testimony, although I was not here personally to hear it. 

I would like to commend each of you and as a very strong supporter of the Peace Corps. I have visited many sites. I have been 

to graduations of the ceremonies when a new class had their graduation and so much euphoria and pride. In some countries, they 

make outfits that reflect that particular country. And so I have 

been a tremendous supporter of the Peace Corps and the tremendous amount of work that you have done and really commend all 

of you. 

I think that part of the problem—you know, and I hear talk 

about we are going to get this legislation going. Part of the problem 

basically has been in my opinion the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, 

the House because this is not the first time that we have had these 

kinds of hearings. Back in 2001, the Dayton News had a 20-month 

92

investigation of Peace Corps. One lady found an answer to something that happened in 1979 from this series run by the Dayton 

News. And there was going to be reaction. We were going to deal 

with it in 2001. Then in 2004, Senator Dodd had legislation that 

was going to go to correct some of these. And it passed the House, 

but it died in the Senate. Two thousand seven, we had the same 

thing. 

So, you know, when we look at the problems—and it is easy to 

bash the Peace Corps. And there are probably others who might 

want to see the program ended, might have been a hidden agenda 

because we are having tough times at home, so we can’t afford to 

spend a single penny abroad philosophy that I have heard a lot 

from some newcomers. 

But, one, I certainly commend you all for your support of the 

Peace Corps. First of all, to be in the Peace Corps, you have to be 

unique in the first place. So I am not surprised how you feel about 

it. 

I guess my own point is that if we are really going to do something, then the Congress has to act. I mean, you can’t just blame 

it on an agency that probably would like to have some of the enforcement that the legislation would do. Of course, they could do 

things on their own, but if it is backed by the Congress, by law, 

signed by a President, then you might see something happen. So, 

one again, we will bash the Peace Corps. They haven’t done a good 

job, which is true in some instances. 

So I just hope that there is going to be the will on the part of 

people who are saying how indignant they are that this is happening. For the last 11 years, I have heard what we ought to do. 

And we haven’t had one single piece of legislation. 

So I really don’t have any questions. I don’t know if any of you 

would like to comment. Yes? 

Mrs. PUZEY. There were whistleblower protections in that 2007 

Dodd bill. If you had passed it, it is a possibility that my daughter 

would still be alive. So I do urge legislation at this time. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. And I hope that we can. It 

passed the House, but once again it just languished and died in the 

Senate. And that is a story of our life. So I really appreciate that. 

I will yield back. Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Smith? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I want to 

especially thank you for calling this extraordinarily important 

hearing and for the bravery of the women who have testified here 

today. 

Hopefully this hearing, each of your instances, each of your traumas should have been the game-changers and those of others who 

have suffered like you have, but if this hearing isn’t, I don’t know 

what else could be. 

I mean, the legislation is important. I am sure the distinguished 

gentle lady from Florida will take the lead on this. We know she 

will. And we will all do our parts. But I hope that the Peace Corps 

itself will realize that deploying young and very vulnerable young 

women and men, but mostly women, obviously, to places where 

there is enhanced risk. Unlike State Department personnel who 

are deployed, who have access to the compound, they are much 

93

more likely to be in a protective state, get hazardous pay if they 

are in a more vulnerable deployment area, the Peace Corps volunteers—and the chart certainly shows it. I agree with my colleagues. 

There are areas of the world that are much more dangerous to 

women when deployed there. And that ought to be a serious factor 

to find some other area and locale where these women could be deployed. 

Let me just say your testimonies are absolutely chilling. I know 

every member of this committee and those who will follow this 

transcript, perhaps they are watching on C–SPAN, will be moved. 

We need a zero tolerance policy. And that goes throughout the entire process: Training; the assessment of risk; I thought, Ms. 

Smochek, failure to prepare; failure to protect; the issue of the failure to respond adequately; and then the aftermath, of course, the 

worst fears realized. 

You know, the IG will be testifying shortly. And she points out 

that since Fiscal Year 2004, the Office of Inspector General has visited 66 posts, made many recommendations. And some 85 percent 

of the posts were visited. And, yet, 38 percent, 25 out of 66, were 

found to be deficient in some aspects of their site development. 

And, as she points out, in appropriate site development increases 

the risk that a volunteer’s community safety net will be compromised if a threat arises. 

The conclusion of the OIG is that—and I would appreciate your 

comments on this—while some important OIG recommendations 

remain open, the agency has made substantial progress in recent 

years in developing a comprehensive safety and security program. 

Do you agree with that? 

And, finally, on the issue of harassment, usually an act or acts 

of sexual assault are preceded by either verbal or some other 

harassing behavior that is clearly the harbinger of what may be 

headed toward that individual or individual’s way. 

Did the Peace Corps personnel to whom you reported to, those 

who have been so horrifically victimized, take seriously your concerns about the harassment? We know in related issues of sex trafficking and other violence against women, where there is a culture 

of impunity, very often it just works horizontally to all women, not 

just those who are bought and sold and turned into commodities 

under sex trafficking. But when it comes to women who are extending up and going out as ambassadors, as one member said, angels 

to the world, it seems to me that we have to have zero tolerance 

with regards to that risk. 

So if you could? 

Ms. SMOCHEK. Yes. I can certainly speak to the second part. I 

know from my experience, I was placed at a site with two other female volunteers. And we all received extensive verbal and physical 

harassment and sexual harassment, even from the very first day. 

And we kept reporting incidents to the medical officer, to the safety 

and security officer and just got the same reply of ‘‘Just toughen 

up. And just deal with it.’’

And I believe that what happened to me, I believe that the—I 

mean, I was targeted by this group of six men. I believe that my 

ultimate gang rape by them and near death could have absolutely 

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ally come to really look at all of the reports that were being filed 

and taken them seriously, I mean, we asked. We specifically said, 

‘‘We are not safe. We do not feel safe. We are going to be harmed.’’ 

And we were not taken out of this dangerous site. 

And so, I mean, that is just a case in how even what is deemed 

minor sexual harassment or assault can lead, and most of the time 

can lead, to much greater crimes. And so I think that there definitely has to be more accountability and response for all reports 

that are submitted. And they need to definitely be followed 

through. Every single report needs to be followed through or to 

really ensure the safety of the volunteer. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. 

Mr. Rivera? 

Mr. RIVERA. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

And thank you to the witnesses for testifying here today regarding some horrific circumstances. And, particularly Mrs. Puzey, my 

condolences to you and to your family. Thank you for coming here 

today. But also thank you for the service that you desired to give 

to your country and to other countries, to mankind. I can’t imagine 

a more altruistic sentiment than the ones with which you entered 

the service in the Peace Corps, particularly since, as has been mentioned, the Peace Corps has been an integral part of the assistance 

around the world that we provide to other countries. But at the 

same time, I hope the entire world is listening, particularly those 

that can make a difference with respect to your circumstances, that 

they are listening as well. 

It is quite concerning to many of us that you all have mentioned 

many instances, I believe, where perhaps the agency has dragged 

its feet in implementing systematic reforms with respect to safety. 

And that is very troubling to us here and I am sure to those who 

are thinking about volunteering with the organization in the future. 

I think the Peace Corps should be held to the highest standard 

of accountability when it comes to the safety and protection of the 

volunteers. And we need to make sure that that plan is brought 

forward and if it hasn’t been thus far, that it needs to be, particularly after today’s hearing. I would like, I believe—since I am the 

last questioner on the panel because I don’t see Congressman 

Chabot here, I am very interested in moving forward and hearing 

from the agency with respect to what you all have been talking 

about. 

So I am not going to ask any questions. I want to help the chair 

move forward and get to the next panel, but I will give you all 

since usually witnesses do not get closing statements, I will give 

you all my last minutes. I have got about three. Maybe each of you 

could take 30 or 45 seconds. Just let us know your final thoughts. 

What do we need to do? What do you want to see done? 

Ms. SMOCHEK. I will go ahead and start. One thing that——

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. A little closer. 

Ms. SMOCHEK. Sorry. One thing that definitely needs to be considered in legislation and has not been really addressed by the 

Peace Corps in their latest movements forward is the health care 

services and health care providers within country but also with the 

United States. And that is really key because they, again, are the 

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first responders and not only making sure that there are trained 

people who can work with the survivors but after service how difficult the issue is to navigate the workers’ compensation system 

when you are still in trauma mode. And once you are separated 

from the Peace Corps, that is it. No one is there. There is no liaison. There is nothing there. You are just left to navigate it completely on your own. Some people get information. Others do not. 

And it really, you know, can further harm the survivor. 

Mr. RIVERA. Thank you. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Clark? 

Ms. CLARK. One thing I would like to point out is that even this 

week, we have received new reports of women who have had similar experiences. I think that, as women failed the support of Congress, there will be a spike in reports. I would like that not to be 

used as an indication that Peace Corps should be disintegrated but, 

rather, that Peace Corps has taken the chance to reform. 

With that in mind, I would say that apologies without action are 

useless. I have had apology from the Peace Corps. I haven’t seen 

the action. My goal is that we have long-term, not short-term but 

long-term, action that can be provided through legislation. 

Mr. RIVERA. Dr. Koenen? 

Dr. KOENEN. I would like to conclude just by saying what we all 

want is a better, stronger, safer Peace Corps. And we have all come 

forward with our stories at great personal cost to ask Congress to 

cement the changes that we request in legislation so that future 

generations can serve in the Peace Corps and be protected. 

Mr. RIVERA. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Marsh? 

Ms. MARSH. I would like to reinforce what the women who spoke 

before me said and also go back to my testimony and suggest the 

Peace Corps follow best practices recommendations and reiterate 

that I feel as though they are taking steps in that direction. And 

I believe that this hearing will help them to further that process. 

Mr. RIVERA. And, Mrs. Puzey, finally? 

Mrs. PUZEY. As has already been said, I think that legislation 

needs to happen now at this time if reforms are going to be consistent over time. And also from the Peace Corps, I would like to 

see them be sympathetic and compassionate and give the support 

to victims’ families because things are going to go wrong. So the 

families should also have that support. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Thank you for 

excellent testimony. Thank you for your courage in appearing before us today. We will work on legislation to move forward. Thank 

you very much, ladies. 

Now I would like to introduce The Honorable Aaron Williams, 

Director of the Peace Corps. Director Williams was sworn in as Director of the Peace Corps on August 24, 2009, the fourth director 

in the Peace Corps’ history to have served himself as a Peace Corps 

volunteer. 

Mr. Williams served from 1967 to 1970, in the Dominican Republic. Upon completing his service, he became Coordinator of Minority 

Recruitment and Project Evaluation Officer for the Peace Corps in 

his hometown of Chicago. Mr. Williams has pursued a career in development, and was awarded the USAID Distinguished Career 

96

Service Award. We thank Mr. Williams for taking the time to appear before this committee. We will consider your testimony as 

having been printed as full. 

And if you would summarize your statement to 5 minutes? And 

we will ask questions at the appropriate time. So we will just give 

them a few minutes. 

[Pause.] 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. We made good use of our time, didn’t 

we? Thank you, Mr. Williams. You are recognized. And feel free to 

summarize your statement. Thank you very much, sir, for appearing before us. Thank you, sir. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE AARON S. WILLIAMS, 

DIRECTOR, PEACE CORPS 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Good morning. Madam Chairman, Ranking Member Berman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify about the steps that Peace Corps has taken to improve the safety, security, support, and care of our volunteers. 

I am a returned Peace Corps volunteer. So I am a part of the 

Peace Corps family. It is an honor to lead this agency that has 

meant so much to me throughout my life. The health, safety, and 

support of every member of our Peace Corps family is my number 

one priority. 

Peace Corps volunteers represent the best that America has to 

offer, and we owe them nothing less in return. We make a commitment to every volunteer that we will support them during and after 

their service in the same way that every volunteer makes a 27-

month commitment to service overseas. 

Unfortunately, the Peace Corps has not always lived up to its 

commitment. The powerful testimony of the courageous witnesses 

today shows us that the trauma and pain that they experience can 

be acute and lasting. We sincerely regret that we did not fully appreciate this in the past. It is not our intent to victimize our volunteers a second time. We want to do everything we can to help them 

heal. 

The brave women who have come forward have shown us that 

the Peace Corps has not always been sufficiently responsive, compassionate, or sensitive to victims of crime and their families. It is 

heartbreaking to learn that. And I apologize for any additional pain 

the agency has inflicted on our volunteers. 

The victims of sexual assault deserve nothing but compassion 

and support. Each volunteer is a valued and treasured member of 

the Peace Corps family. A crime against one is a crime against all 

of us. 

Since the Peace Corps was founded 50 years ago, more than 

200,000 Americans have served in 139 countries. We are all enormously proud of their service, both to the United States and to the 

host nations. Today we have 8,600 volunteers in 77 countries. 

Volunteers embody compassion, generosity, and a dedication to 

our mission of world peace and friendship. It is these qualities that 

deepen our pain when there is a loss. We care profoundly about the 

welfare of our volunteers. Every life lost and every act of violence 

against a volunteer is a tragedy. 

97

I have personally met with the parents of Kate Puzey, the outstanding volunteer who was murdered in March 2009. I assured 

Mr. and Mrs. Puzey and their son David that the Peace Corps and 

the United States Government have united with them in seeking 

justice for Kate. 

Lois, Harry, and David have shown incredible strength, and I am 

deeply grateful to them for helping us to improve the way we handle sensitive information and support the families of fallen volunteers. I regret that the Peace Corps did not do a better job early 

on in supporting and communicating with them. 

My staff and I have also met with a number of returned volunteers who have shared personal experiences of rape and sexual assault. I would like to thank them for their courage in speaking out 

and for helping us to make needed reforms. They have enlightened 

us. And they have helped us understand the lasting damage suffered by victims of crime. We do not want those experiences repeated. 

The Peace Corps of today takes the issue of sexual assault prevention and response seriously. And we are dedicated to providing 

compassionate victim-centered support. Since I became Director in 

August 2009, the Peace Corps has put in place new policies and 

practices to reduce the risks faced by volunteers and to ensure they 

receive our full support when a tragedy occurs. 

Let me tell you a little about the things we have done. We have 

issued Peace Corps’ commitment to sexual assault victims, a set of 

core principles to ensure we provide timely, effective, and compassionate support to victims of sexual assault. We have implemented 

and trained our staff on new guidelines for responding to rape and 

sexual assault. The guidelines are victim-centered with specific procedures that all of our staff around the world have to follow to respond promptly and provide the best possible support. 

The agency’s sexual assault working group is developing a comprehensive sexual assault prevention and response program. This 

group, by the way, includes returned volunteers, survivors of rape 

and sexual assault, as well as our staff, which has expertise in 

trauma response. 

Since last year, we have been developing comprehensive new 

training for volunteers before and during their service on sexual assault prevention and response. We will begin rolling this out this 

summer. 

We have signed a memorandum of understanding with RAINN, 

the nation’s largest organization on battling, combatting sexual violence. That is going to be a very important part of our response. 

Also, at the response of the brave women of First Response Action, I hired a nationally recognized leader in victims’ rights to be 

our agency’s first victims’ advocate. She is here with me today. She 

will make sure that victims of crime get the emotional, the medical, 

the legal, and other support they need. 

At the suggestion of Congressman Poe—and thank you, sir, for 

your suggestion—I created the Peace Corps volunteer sexual assault panel, made up of outside experts and returned volunteers 

who were victims of sexual assault, to help us design and implement our sexual assault and risk reduction and response strategies. 

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Madam Chairman, we are committed to a reform agenda. We 

have improved the agency’s global safety and security program by 

working to implement the recommendations by our Inspector General that were made in 2010. I believe these reforms will better 

protect our volunteers around the world. More needs to be done. 

And I look forward to working with you and others to ensure the 

continued success of our volunteers. Their willingness to serve our 

country is an inspiration. 

Thank you very much. And I look forward to the questions that 

you might ask. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Williams. 

We thank you for your service. 

Although it is not a perfect comparison, much has changed on 

college campuses in the past 20 years in the way that administrators, faculties, students, and all of the staff respond to victims of 

sexual abuse, and it has improved for the better in the past 20 

years. 

When I went to college, you did not know where to go for help, 

how to report it, or get any kind of help. A lot has changed. Mistakes and crimes do occur, but they are treated in a far more serious vein than before, not a perfect comparison but as it relates to 

the Peace Corps. 

I was just jotting down what we have heard from the victims, 

and the common denominator is to change the focus from a culture 

of blaming the victim to not blaming the victim. So, I am curious 

to hear about how you are shifting, not you as a person, but the 

culture of the Peace Corps, and the folks that you have in-country 

to shift their focus from blaming the victim and trying to downgrade the crime—and it is a crime—to be more supportive in helping the victim to report the crime, making it easier to report the 

crime, and not blaming the victim. 

Some of the notes that I was taking down, training for in-country 

personnel on how to respond to sexual assault survivors, the doctors that you have in-country, that they need training in post-rape 

exams so that they get the evidence they need in order to present 

the case in court, meeting advocates in DC and throughout and different cities of people who understand what the survivors are going 

through, Workers’ Compensation deadlines—to eliminate that 

deadline, Peace Corps should facilitate interaction among assault 

victims, instead of trying to separate them or downplay the crime 

that has been perpetrated against them—having whistleblower and 

training procedures in place. Also, many of the survivors shared 

with us, either verbally or in their written statement, and talked 

a lot about the training video that is still being played and whether 

that is adequate, that really focuses on the problem, or whether it 

is blaming the victim and trying to make it sound like they might 

be the ones responsible for the crime. 

Also, reporting and making that reporting public, which has been 

a very important part of the college campus change in their culture, is mandating through legislation that they have to report the 

crimes that are committed on campus. Where are those unsafe 

places? Is the Peace Corps reevaluating where volunteers are 

placed? Also the Annual Volunteer Surveys, if that is shared with 

others so that we know where the sexual assaults are taking place. 

So, I would just share those with you and perhaps you could discuss how blaming the victim, more than anything else, is changing 

in the Peace Corps and the country selection, whether we are making sure that we have evacuation procedures in place to get those 

victims out of harm’s way. 

So, let me ask you the following questions. The Peace Corps is 

subject to the 5-year employment rule, which statutorily restricts 

the tenure of U.S. direct hires, including regional directors, county 

desks, country desk officers, et cetera. The GAO noted, ‘‘One factor 

107

that may contribute to the Peace Corps’ difficulty in implementing 

its safety and security policies is turnover among key managers.’’

Do you think that this 5-year rule makes it more difficult for the 

Peace Corps to protect its volunteers? Would you support legislation eliminating this 5-year rule? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

Regarding the 5-year rule, it was put in place, of course, by the 

legendary Sargent Shriver when he was Director of the Peace 

Corps in order to make sure the Peace Corps had a continual flow 

of fresh blood, returned volunteers from the field to help design 

and continue to implement Peace Corps’ programs worldwide. 

I think that there is always a need for fresh blood in any organization, especially I think in terms of an agency that focuses on 

young people around the world volunteering, but at the same time 

I am more than willing to entertain and discuss with you and other 

members of the committee the aspects of the 5-year rule that might 

have a direct bearing on our safety and security. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. 

In response to the survivors’ testimony, the agency’s frequently 

asked questions brochure and safety and volunteer support brochure assert that, ‘‘Volunteers who are victims of sexual assault 

can expect to receive extensive support as it relates to their safety, 

medical, and psychological care, legal options, and continued service with the Peace Corps.’’

However, the testimony presented to this committee and testimony that I have gotten since we have posted this hearing indicated that volunteers in general are inadequately trained on sexual 

assault issues or often placed in dangerous situations, that the 

agency’s in-country response frequently fails to meet the survivors’ 

needs, that upon return to the U.S., volunteers often receive hostile, rather than supportive, treatment and that institutional obstacles often prevent survivors from receiving long-term medical and 

mental health care. 

How do you explain the significant discrepancy between what the 

brochures say, what the video says, and what has been presented 

before us? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Madam Chairman, there is no doubt that what 

these courageous women have done has opened our eyes to a problem that we need to correct. And we need to correct it now. And 

I want to work with you to do that. 

Let me just mention one thing about the video. I am going to replace the video immediately because I have listened very carefully 

to the victims and their view of the video. We have been over the 

past few months designing a new revamped training program, 

which will include also pre-service training. And so we are going 

to have state-of-the-art. 

One of the important things that we are doing right now is the 

fact that we are going to be listening and working closely with 

RAINN. RAINN is, as you know, a preeminent organization. They 

are going to guide us. 

I was listening very carefully to the RAINN representative’s testimony this morning. I think that she has provided a road map, if 

you will, of things that we need to follow as we move forward to 

revamp and reform the Peace Corps. 

108

So rest assured that this type of thing of blaming the victim will 

not continue in the Peace Corps today. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. I thank you so much for your attitude, 

I am very confident that those changes will take place. Thank you, 

Mr. Williams. 

Mr. Berman? 

Mr. BERMAN. Well, thank you much, Madam Chairman. 

I would like to continue down the line that the chairman started 

in terms of some of the specific suggestions. When one reads the 

e-mail or not reads because I didn’t but listened to the show and 

heard Mrs. Puzey talk about the e-mail from her daughter to the 

country director, I reached a conclusion that unless there is something I don’t know, such a high level of recklessness to allow the 

perpetrator’s brother to somehow have access to it is almost beyond 

comprehension because that was a sophisticated e-mail that 

warned of the dangers. It laid out a road map of what should not 

happen. And it seems to have been ignored unless, again, there are 

facts I don’t know. 

Whistleblower protection in that case I think means two things: 

One, as a general principle, no retaliation against the victims who 

are filing complaints regarding what happened; but, secondly, the 

issue of confidentiality. And is that something that through practices or legislation you could support? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, thank you, Congressman Berman. Without 

a doubt, we would be open to looking at legislation that could 

strengthen the Peace Corps in terms of providing enhanced safety 

and security for our volunteers, no doubt about it. I am prepared 

to sit down with any member of this committee or anyone in the 

Congress and discuss this. 

We have already been engaged in conversations regarding whistleblower protection with Senator Isakson. 

Mr. BERMAN. You are open, then, to a——

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. 

Mr. BERMAN [continuing]. Legislative approach to deal with the 

institutionalization of the reforms that you are embarking upon? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir, I am, because, referring back to the question from Madam Chairman, the 5-year rule is an issue, obviously, 

that we need to take a look at. And so to the extent that we could 

codify these important best practice policies and best practices is 

no doubt something we need to give serious consideration to, working in conjunction with the Congress. 

Mr. BERMAN. A second issue. This issue of the role of the Peace 

Corps with the victim who is separated from the Peace Corps in 

terms of very specifically the Workers’ Comp situation, there are 

issues of ongoing medical attention, counseling, other benefits 

under the law, going through that is not such an easy process in 

terms of the forms and the procedures for utilizing the Workers’ 

Comp system to get compensation for those costs. 

I was led to believe from the testimony the Peace Corps sort of 

eliminates its involvement once the volunteer has separated. Why 

does that have to be? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Congressman, I think you are absolutely right. 

We need to take a serious look at that in terms of our ongoing support for members of the Peace Corps family because just because 

109

a volunteer has been separated from official service doesn’t mean 

that there is not an ongoing need for care and support. And I want 

to work out an arrangement whereby we can do that. 

One of the things that I have asked my victims’ advocate in her 

new position to do is to sit down with me and the Department of 

Labor to see how we can coordinate to provide better support to 

volunteers so they won’t have to navigate the bureaucracy on their 

own. I think they deserve that. And I am prepared to look into how 

we can do that in a very effective and efficient way. 

Mr. BERMAN. Another suggestion I heard coming from the testimony was while what you have done in terms of the advocate in 

Washington is a very important first step, at least until the training has so taken hold that each country team can provide those 

services on their own, isn’t there logic in having some group of roving advocates who can go on site and make sure that the best practices are, in fact, being implemented? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I think that is a good management practice across 

the board in many of our operations. And certainly I want to entertain that and determine how we can best move forward. I think it 

is an excellent idea. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you very much. And I do appreciate your 

openness to legislation because I do think a pretty compelling case 

has been made that it is important for us to institutionalize this. 

And obviously we want to get your reactions as we go along to the 

workability of what we are talking about. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much because we want to cooperate to the extent we can with the members of this committee. 

Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much. 

Judge Poe? 

Mr. POE. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mr. Williams, good to see you again. Thank you for coming by 

and letting us vet this issue and your response. And I believe in 

about 6–8 weeks we are going to meet again on some of the things 

we talked about earlier. 

I look at this issue as a human rights issue. You know, America, 

we are the human rights country. We go throughout the world promoting human rights in a whole bunch of ways. I think it is important, though, we return and focus on the human rights of Americans that go abroad in the Peace Corps. 

And thank you for your service in the Peace Corps. It is a great 

organization. I don’t want to see it disappear. I think we ought to 

encourage it, make it better. 

I see this issue as kind of several parts. First, when a crime is 

committed, we have the victim. And then we have the Peace Corps 

response, which is what we are going to work on legislatively, I 

hope. 

But also the Peace Corps response must I think include two 

other avenues that haven’t been talked about today. And that is 

that Peace Corps’ interaction with the country that the victim was 

in and what is their response, how are they going to deal with this 

crime committed in their country. 

And, lastly, the perpetrator. There is a criminal involved in these 

criminal actions. And how do we see our interaction with some forVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:41 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\051111\66292 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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eign country going after the outlaw that committed this crime? And 

so those are the things that we need to work on. 

We don’t have time to verbalize those now. But I would hope as 

we proceed with legislation, with your help, with RAINN, and all 

of the victims that are here, that we can figure out a way to make 

the country that we are trying to help, these angels are helping, 

be responsive to the crime that was committed in their country as 

well. 

And I will just hear some short comments from you on that issue 

if you care to make them. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Congressman Poe. And thank you 

also for the care and concern that you have for the Peace Corps. 

You supported the Peace Corps. And I have appreciated our conversations. We will follow up, as you say, in a few weeks to continue that. 

Regarding care of victim, this is going to be first and foremost 

in our response. We are going to make sure that it is a victim-centered approach. We are going to be compassionate. All of our medical personnel have been trained in how to work with victims of 

sexual assault. There is nothing more important. 

It is not just going to be at the country or the post. It is going 

to be a continuum when they return back to the United States, either to their home of record or if they are in Washington. And it 

is a team effort. We are all going to make sure, all of our staff, our 

senior management, is focused on this. We are committed to making this, changing the culture that these courageous people have 

encountered in the past. We are going to change that. 

Regarding the host country, the host countries around the world, 

as you know so well, want the Peace Corps to stay there. And so 

we find in working with the country team, with the Ambassador, 

with the regional security officer, each of the Embassies, that the 

cooperation we get from local law enforcement has been very good. 

They are very interested in finding the perpetrator, the criminal 

who attacked a Peace Corps volunteer, no matter what the type of 

attack is. And we have seen a lot of good cooperation from them 

working with our local safety and security coordinator in each of 

our countries. And that will continue to be the case. And we will 

do everything we can to pursue that. 

But, again, it is also something that the Ambassador in our country, U.S. Ambassador, also has been very, very—in just about every 

country we can think of where we have had issues, they have been 

determined and have been a willing ally in this fight, sir. 

Mr. POE. I am going to yield back the remainder of my time, 

Madam Chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. Payne? 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, for calling this 

very important hearing. And let me welcome you, Mr. Director Williams. It is good to see you again. I appreciate it. At the meeting 

we had early on, when you took over the responsibilities as the 

head of the Peace Corps, as I have indicated, I think it is one of 

the greatest organizations that the U.S. back in the early ’60s created. And I think they really do an outstanding job. 

111

And I think that this year, rather than having this kind of hearing, unfortunately, we should be really celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. And hopefully we can really come up 

with the corrective work that we can deal with the problems and 

once again highlight the great achieves that the Peace Corps has 

made. 

I visit many developing countries. And one of the first things 

they ask if you don’t have a Peace Corps is, ‘‘Can you send in the 

Peace Corps?’’ And the U.S. Ambassadors and the heads of countries, many of them, as a matter of fact, many of the leaders of 

countries today, had experience with the Peace Corps. They even 

learn English at a Peace Corps school. And they really want the 

Peace Corps there. 

So I know that the problem is not with the host countries but 

there has to be better coordination between the host country and 

the Peace Corps. As I mentioned before, I have been to the graduation ceremonies after new Peace Corps members come, usually a 

whole group, those who determine they are staying. And usually, 

you know, 98 percent of them go through the training. They have 

their celebration and their graduation. I have spoken at a number 

of those in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. So I have a very 

strong feel for the Peace Corps and what you have done. 

I wondered this, number one, if in certain countries sexual assault is more prominent in other countries, as we know. They are 

all different. Is there any special kind of precautions or inculcation 

with the volunteers to assess them of the fact that culturally in 

some places sexual assault has not been prosecuted by that country? Does that come into play? And do you do anything special in 

those areas? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Congressman Payne. And thank you, 

sir, for your historic support of the Peace Corps. I know you take 

every opportunity to visit our volunteers and to learn what they 

are doing. 

I think that we have had very good success in host countries in 

finding the perpetrators of these crimes and in prosecuting them 

because, again, this is crucial to them because, as you know ,they 

want the Peace Corps to remain in their country. And so when 

there is a crime committed against a volunteer, we have had very 

good cooperation from local authorities. 

And the other thing is that we make sure that when a victim has 

made a decision to pursue this with local authorities, that the victim is accompanied and supported by the Peace Corps every step 

of the way, but we have seen good support from local authorities, 

sir. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. 

Now I know you have a $26 million budget cut coming up in this 

fiscal budget. And the programs that you are trying to put in, is 

there any way you can preserve the work in protecting some of 

these new initiatives that we are trying, in spite of the cuts that 

you are going to evidently receive? Could you ensure that you still 

work on these issues that have been raised here today? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I am committed to making sure that whatever resources are provided by the Congress, whatever level of budget we 

have, we are not going to compromise on the health, the safety, and 

112

security of our volunteers. We might not be able to go into a new 

country, might not have as many volunteers come, expanding in 

certain countries, but what is first and foremost for us is the 

health, safety, and security of our volunteers. We are going to use 

every dime we have to make sure we support that. 

Mr. PAYNE. Just finally, as you know, as we have talked about 

the death of our volunteer Cathy, it certainly concerns us all. And, 

now, we are waiting for the final report of her investigation. 

We have great concern for the safety of Peace Corps volunteers 

who report violations of other Peace Corps workers. Can you lay 

out what protections are in place to ensure that volunteers are protected so that we don’t have a similar situation occur? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. Thank you. 

We want to be sure that we protect the confidentiality of any information that any volunteer provides to our staff. So we have 

trained overseas staff in how to respond appropriately when volunteers bring allegations of wrongdoing to their attention. 

This policy, which dates to early 2009, requires any staff member 

who receives or has knowledge of a volunteer’s allegation to treat 

the allegation with the utmost discretion and confidentiality, to 

take appropriate measures to ensure the volunteer’s safety, and to 

ensure that the allegation is given serious consideration, including 

referring to our Inspector General. 

That is our policy. And, more than the policy, that is the way we 

are implementing this. And we are going to provide oversight. 

And I travel. I have traveled to 10 countries in the past 11⁄2

years since I have been Peace Corps Director. And my senior staff 

travels extensively. These are the kinds of questions and concerns 

that we express and look into deeply when we do that. So not only 

do we have a policy. We are going to implement the policy. We are 

going to follow up and provide oversight. 

Thank you. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Ms. Buerkle? 

Ms. BUERKLE. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Mr. 

Williams, for being here this morning and giving us this opportunity to question and also for your willingness to sit through the 

very difficult testimonies we heard earlier. 

I have several questions. I would like to begin by both the Bush 

administration and the Obama administration have encouraged 

and talked about doubling the number of Peace Corps volunteers. 

Do you think that given what has gone on and what doesn’t seem 

to be under control at this point, that that would be a prudent objective for the Peace Corps? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I think that right now we are in 77 countries, 

Congresswoman. And that is a very effective footprint worldwide. 

I believe that we could grow and still manage our responsibilities 

in a very sound way because we are going to make the reforms, we 

are going to implement those reforms. And we are going to get the 

best possible expertise that we can bring to bear to help us manage 

this as we go forward. So I am confident that we could continue 

to grow, but all of this, of course, is going to be dependent upon 

our budget. 

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Ms. BUERKLE. In your testimony, you talked about training for 

the volunteers. And that has not been implemented yet. When do 

you expect that that will be implemented? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. We are in the final stages of finalizing the new 

training. We are going to start rolling it out this summer. So, you 

know, in a couple of months, we will roll it out. 

And also we want to listen very carefully to our colleagues at 

RAINN as we move forward with this training because it is important to train, first of all, our staff, but also just as important the 

volunteers so that we have an effective dialogue between staff and 

volunteers as we move forward. 

Ms. BUERKLE. If you would, could you please let us know when 

that begins to get rolled out and keep us informed as to the 

progress of that? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I certainly will. I will be happy to do that. Thank 

you for the question. 

Ms. BUERKLE. We heard testimony this morning and specifically 

in the instance of Kate. She was in an area, a remote area, that 

didn’t have Internet or phones. How will you address that going 

forward so that these volunteers have a safety net, that they can 

have some means of communicating any danger that they might 

feet? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. One of the things that is our goal when we place 

any volunteer in a site is to make sure they are placed in a community setting where, in fact, they are not going to be alone, per se. 

They have counterparts that they see every day, whether they are 

health care workers or teachers. There are host families. We work 

with local law enforcement. We take careful attention. We pay 

careful attention to site selection. There is supervision by our staff 

and headquarters. 

Also, we listen very carefully to the volunteers. There is something we have in Peace Corps which we didn’t have when I was a 

volunteer, which I think is a wonderful new arrangement. That is 

something called a Volunteer Advisory Committee. And they provide a lot of information and oversight in many ways to staff. I listen to them very carefully. I meet with them when I travel. And 

so we spend a lot of time thinking about site selection. 

At the same time, if a volunteer feels unsafe, if he or she feels 

that this is not a safe setting, I want my staff to take immediate 

action to look for other places for the volunteer to work because we 

have other sites. In all the countries where we work, there is no 

need for one of our volunteers to feel unsafe in a situation. We 

have to listen to the volunteers. 

Ms. BUERKLE. And so can you tell us what changes have been 

made? Because we heard from a panel this morning that when they 

expressed their concerns to their superiors, they were ignored. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, I think, first of all, we have established a 

policy of listening to volunteers. I have asked the regional managers for Africa, Asia, Latin America to carry out these policies to 

make sure we provide oversight. 

I listened to—the Volunteer Advisory Committees are a very important source of information because they represent the volunteers. They are elected by the volunteers. And they are not shy 

about providing me with e-mails and calls to tell me about things 

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that they believe need to be changed. So we are going to listen to 

the volunteers. And I am going to make sure as a practice that if 

a volunteer feels unsafe, we have to take action. 

Ms. BUERKLE. And so the whistleblowers’ provisions and concerns, that makes that even more important that time is of the essence so that we can protect whistleblowers and protect those who 

are willing to call your attention to some situation and not fear retaliation. 

The last piece is we see on the map over here—and we have been 

provided with those maps—that there are areas that are even more 

unsafe than others. Those areas, will there be enhanced safety procedures or will it be applied uniformly across the board, regardless 

of the location? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. One of the things that is important is that we do 

not intend to put volunteers in unsafe countries. Many countries 

want Peace Corps to enter their countries. But before we do that, 

we have to make sure we have a permissive environment. 

We work with the Ambassador in those countries. We work with 

the regional security officers. We conduct a full country assessment 

before we agree to move into any country. And if a country is 

deemed to be unsafe at any level, we are not going to place volunteers there. 

Ms. BUERKLE. Thank you. I look forward to working with you. 

This legislation couldn’t be more important. And I think time is of 

the essence. So thank you very much for being here this morning. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you. And I look forward to working with 

you and your staff also. 

Ms. BUERKLE. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Ms. Buerkle. 

Mr. Smith? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And, again, 

thank you for calling this extraordinarily timely hearing because I 

think it will get results. Sometimes hearings come and go and they 

pass and nobody pays attention. This one will. So thank you. 

Let me just ask you, Mr. Williams. You said that there was good 

cooperation with local authorities when there is an allegation 

made. You mentioned that these countries are ‘‘very interested’’ in 

tracking down the perpetrator. Could you define exactly what that 

means? For example, how many arrests have occurred? How many 

convictions have occurred as a result of rapes of Peace Corps volunteers? What, if anything, was required of our Peace Corps volunteer as that court case went forward? And I mean be very, very 

specific. 

One of the things we have learned with trafficking is that countries will talk a good game and then be very deficient in doing anything to mitigate sex trafficking. And it is often the police. It is 

often the judiciary, untrained judges, and, really, a culture of impunity. So if you could answer that one? 

Secondly, today if a woman does report a concern over her safety, 

I mean, today, right now, what absolutely happens in that case? Is 

she redeployed? Is there an assessment done as to the validity of 

her concerns? Is she in any way penalized for coming forward and 

causing some aggravation on the part of somebody higher up in the 

chain of command? Is there an immediate redeployment? And is 

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there, another question, an assessment of places where these instances have occurred? Do you keep in track? 

For example, Bangladesh, in one particular locale, there may 

have been five attacks. Do we have any idea in terms of tracking 

whether or not there has been a pattern in any particular area? 

And once an allegation has been made and it seems to me that 

there would be no credible reason why an allegation wouldn’t be 

given full faith that that woman is concerned about something 

about to or that actually happened. Is that area then put on a do 

not send or deploy a Peace Corps volunteer to that area so that 

there is a zero tolerance when it comes to that particular area? 

And, finally, in 2010, the agency’s Inspector General found that 

between Peace Corps and State Department, there was an unclear 

responsibility that could ‘‘compromise volunteers’ safety and hinder 

response to crimes against volunteers.’’

The IG recommended that the Peace Corps develop formal documentation with the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security to clarify the roles and responsibilities for overseas safety 

and security regarding Peace Corps staff and Peace Corps volunteers. 

To date, the Peace Corps and State Department lack a memorandum of understanding establishing the agencies’ respective responsibilities to volunteers. Will that happen immediately? And 

why hasn’t it happened to date? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Congressman. And thank you for your 

support of the Peace Corps. I know you have been a strong supporter of the Peace Corps. 

Let me answer your first question regarding the pursuit of the 

criminals. We have been very successful, we believe, in working 

with our partners in host countries to bring perpetrators to justice. 

In 2009 and 2010, arrests were made in 61 percent of the rape and 

attempted rape cases in which the victim elected to file a report 

with local police. And so we see strong support. 

The other thing, these cases are high-profile cases in small, developing countries, as you well know. Our Ambassadors are determined to pursue justice for our volunteers. And so we believe we 

have gotten good cooperation, and we continue to pursue this. 

Mr. SMITH. Could I ask you on that point, from the 61 arrests, 

61 percent of the arrests, could you maybe break down for the 

record exactly how many that turns out to be and whether or not 

they were convicted and whether or not they served time in prison? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I don’t have those stats with me, but I will get 

them for you and submit them for the record. And I will be happy 

to do that. 

Mr. SMITH. Because the arrests could be done to placate us. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Of course. 

Mr. SMITH. And then the real meting out of justice then goes undone. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Very fair point. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Your point about the MOU with the Department 

of State——

Mr. SMITH. Yes? 

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Mr. WILLIAMS [continuing]. We are currently in discussions with 

the Department of State about the clarification of responsibilities 

per the IG’s recommendation. We hope to have a resolution of that 

very soon. 

Mr. SMITH. Yes. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. That is way overdue. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. We need to get it done. And my colleagues at the 

State Department stand ready to do that. 

Mr. SMITH. Does your office work with and do you have anybody 

that works with on a regular basis the TIP Office? I know that you 

work with the Interagency Council, but is there a regular dialogue 

with, for example, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca because, again, there 

are many instances where, countries where, especially Peace Corps 

women volunteers are being deployed, where they happen to be a 

Tier 3 country and a country on the watch list that could be Tier 

3 soon? I’m out of time, but if you could just—do you work with 

the TIP Office? 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I don’t know to what extent we have frequent conversations with the TIP Office, but we, of course, work very closely 

with Diplomatic Security. But this is an excellent idea. I will talk 

to our safety and security people to make sure we step that up. 

Thank you, sir. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Smith. And thank you, 

Mr. Williams. We will look forward. Our committee looks forward 

to working with you; with RAINN; with victims and survivors of 

sexual assault; with Peace Corps volunteers, former and current, 

who are undergoing difficulties in drafting legislation that will improve their reporting of crime and improve your ability to respond 

to what is a serious crime and change the culture to a victimless 

and not a blame the victim mentality but blame the perpetrator 

and the person who is causing the crime and not the victim. 

So thank you, Mr. Williams. We appreciate it. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you and 

the members of the committee for support of the Peace Corps and 

for looking for ways to help make the Peace Corps stronger as we 

move forward to another 50 years. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Absolutely. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. I sincerely appreciate that. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

And, finally, I would like to introduce Kathy Buller, Inspector 

General of the Peace Corps. Ms. Buller was named by the Director 

to be Inspector General of the Peace Corps on May 25, 2008 with 

over 20 years experience in the Inspector General community. 

As a member of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity 

and Efficiency, Ms. Buller is also co-chair of the Inspections and 

Evaluations Committee and a member of the Legislation Committee. 

Thank you, Ms. Buller, for appearing before us today. Your full 

statement will be made a part of the record and we ask that you 

summarize it in 5 minutes. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you and welcome. 

Ms. BULLER. Thank you. 

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STATEMENT OF MS. KATHY A. BULLER, INSPECTOR GENERAL, 

PEACE CORPS 

Ms. BULLER. Madam Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member 

Berman, and distinguished members of the committee, I thank you 

for inviting me to appear before you and allowing me to summarize 

my prepared statement. 

I would also like to acknowledge the courage and the strength 

that the returned Peace Corps volunteers and the Puzey family 

demonstrated today when they testified before this committee. 

As the Inspector General of the Peace Corps, I am charged with 

independent oversight of the agency. I began my tenure as IG in 

2008. And since then my office has reviewed key safety and security functions at headquarters and our post-audits and in our program evaluations. 

We have issued many recommendations for improvement. While 

the agency has made strides to improve its safety and security program, several problems continue to surface. We continue to report 

a lack of management oversight and inconsistencies in safety and 

security staff qualifications and training. 

Peace Corps is a highly decentralized agency with headquarters 

staff primarily relying on country directors and their staff to run 

the programs in the field. This model is only successful when there 

are clear lines of communication, well-established policies and procedures, and adequate oversight functions at headquarters. 

The Peace Corps Office of Safety and Security was created in response to the 2002 GAO report to ‘‘foster improved communication, 

coordination, oversight, and accountability for all Peace Corps safety and security efforts.’’ However, posts are not accountable to the 

Office of Safety and Security. Instead, regional offices provide guidance to country directors. And these offices are responsible for monitoring compliance, which results in uneven implementation of policies and procedures across posts. 

Peace Corps must ensure that safety and security managers at 

headquarters have the authority to ensure safety and security functions at the post are carried out. The Safety and Security Office 

must function as the office it was intended to be, rather than merely a consultative office for overseas posts. 

Peace Corps’ approach to safety and security is built on the acceptance model. Fundamental tenets of this model include building 

relationships, sharing information, training, site development, incident reporting and response, emergency communication and planning. 

Our 2010 audit of safety and security indicated that Peace Corps 

overseas safety and security staff are not consistently qualified to 

support volunteers in achieving the goals of this acceptance model. 

Volunteers serve in 77 countries. And I acknowledge that what 

might be required in one country may not be applicable in another. 

But there should be a baseline of what is acceptable and the agency management needs to hold all posts accountable to this standard. 

In security situations, such as violent crimes, kidnappings, and 

acts of terrorism, every second is vital. And strong coordination between Peace Corps and the Department of State is essential. There 

needs to be a memorandum of understanding that would define 

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each agency’s role and responsibilities in specified volunteer safety 

and security situations. I have recommended that the agency formalize an MOU with the Department of State on safety and security-related issues. This MOU is a critical step in improving the 

agency’s capacity to effectively respond to security situations. 

Volunteer safety and security is also compromised by the agency’s failure to implement OIG recommendations. Since 2004, OIG 

has found that 44 percent of posts audited were not in compliance 

with the requirement to obtain a background check of post staff. 

After the policy was revised in September 2009, to include shortterm contractors, OIG found that 73 percent of posts audited were 

not compliant. 

We identified the timely and effective remediation of OIG recommendations as a management challenge in the agency’s 2011 

performance accountability report. Also, the agency left the chief 

compliance officer position vacant for 1 year and 7 months. 

Since the new chief compliance officer arrived, more than 300 

recommendations have been closed. However, as of today, 205 recommendations remain open, some dating back to early 2008. For 

example, in our 2008 evaluation of volunteer safety and security, 

there are still open recommendations about training for volunteers 

and staff, volunteer housing standards, emergency preparedness, 

and crime reporting. 

Peace Corps has made progress in addressing the agency’s safety 

and security issues since GAO issued its concerns in 2002. My office will continue to assist the agency in improving the safety and 

security of volunteers. We have commenced a review of the agency’s implementation of guidelines and protocols related to volunteer 

victims of sexual assault and also plan to follow up on our previous 

work. We would also like to express our gratitude to the survivors 

for their cooperation as we conduct our review. 

I believe that, as Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary, 

the agency has the opportunity to renew its dedication to volunteer 

safety and security and ensure the sustainability of the agency’s 

mission for another 50 years. 

Thank you for this opportunity. And I am prepared to answer 

any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Buller follows:]

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Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

I wanted to ask about Kate Puzey’s murder. As you know, in 

March 2009, Kate, a Peace Corps volunteer serving as a teacher in 

Benin, Africa, was murdered. Shortly before that terrible crime, 

Kate sent an e-mail to the country director identifying her accused 

killer, a teacher, and as engaging in inappropriate relationships 

with and sexually harassing students. 

Kate requested that the e-mail remain anonymous. However, the 

agency’s Inspector General later found that this e-mail was mishandled. And I have some questions about that. Can you tell us 

what happened? Did the Peace Corps terminate the employment of 

those responsible? 

And suppose that lamentably this exact same scenario repeated 

itself, a Peace Corps volunteer reported to the Peace Corps officials 

about an individual who could pose a risk to the volunteer safety 

and requesting anonymity obviously. How would the Peace Corps 

today protect that volunteer? 

And, lastly, are there any legislative measures that we can take 

to strengthen safety and security in support of prosecutions in foreign countries? 

Ms. BULLER. My office did conduct a review, an administrative 

review, of the information flow that occurred prior to the death of 

Kate Puzey. What we did find was that the e-mail that she sent 

confidentially to the country director and additionally another person was compromised, that this information was inappropriately 

disclosed. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. What happened to the employment of 

those responsible for the e-mail and the outing of the person who 

sent that e-mail, Kate? 

Ms. BULLER. None of those individuals are with the Peace Corps 

anymore. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Are they no longer in the Peace Corps 

because of this or for other reasons? 

Ms. BULLER. They are no longer in the Peace Corps because of 

this. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. They are no longer in the Peace Corps 

because of this? 

Ms. BULLER. Yes. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Suppose that a volunteer would send 

communications or would somehow communicate to a Peace Corps 

official about a problem that that volunteer is incurring in asking 

for anonymity. How would the Peace Corps protect that volunteer 

today? What has changed? 

Ms. BULLER. Today there is a protocol in place or policy in place 

that mandates that any allegation by a volunteer or a trainee that 

is made in confidence be kept in confidence and held in the closest 

discretion by Peace Corps staff receiving that allegation. The volunteer or the trainee is also advised that they can come to the IG and 

actually are encouraged to come to the IG with these allegations 

since we handle confidential allegations all the time and actually 

have a statutory mandate to keep our allegations confidential. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. Understanding how difficult it is to get prosecutions in foreign countries, before we enter 

130

into agreements to send volunteers to the countries, is the Peace 

Corps being aggressive with the host country in saying that these 

cases must be handled in the serious manner that they merit? 

Ms. BULLER. I believe that the director was probably in the best 

position to answer that question. From our perspective, there are 

some things that just won’t be prosecuted overseas. It would be 

helpful if we had the ability to prosecute them here. There could 

be a legislative change that would allow the U.S. to have jurisdiction of some violent crimes committed against Peace Corps volunteers. 

For example, if they were considered to be employees of the 

United States Government, for purposes of that type of a prosecution, they are currently considered employees for FECA purposes. 

So it would be along those similar lines. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Has the Peace Corps implemented—I know you spoke about it in 

your testimony—all of your audit recommendations regarding safety and security? If not, which ones remain open? And, what is the 

most important change that the agency can make to improve safety 

and security? 

Ms. BULLER. I want to just clarify your question, Madam Chairman, if I can. Are we talking about the audit or the evaluation? Either one? 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Either one. It was about the audit, but 

the evaluation is good, too. 

Ms. BULLER. I would like to address the evaluation in particular 

since those recommendations, the ones that are currently open 

have been open since 2008. The recommendations we made in the 

evaluation that are continuing to be open concern the accuracy of 

incident reporting, volunteer incident reporting. We would like the 

agency to have the country director review those incident reports 

before they are submitted to headquarters. That is still open. 

We also would like the Office of Safety and Security to provide 

pre-service training to volunteers and how they can effectively respond to a violent attack in a culturally appropriate way given the 

country that they are in. That has not happened. 

We also would like the regional directors to establish housing criteria and make sure that housing criteria is implemented across 

the board. That remains open. 

We also would like the Office of Safety and Security to make 

sure that all of its staff is trained in making certain that all of the 

safety and security recommendations are complied with. 

There is an open recommendation concerning the Emergency Action Plans. We made the recommendation that they be tested yearly and in a variety of situations, not just a single situation—that 

remains open—and that the staff when they are conducting site development fill out the site locator forms that currently the Peace 

Corps volunteers do on their own, instead of having the Peace 

Corps volunteers fill them out. We continually find in our country 

program evaluations that these site locator forms are often not accurate. Our evaluators take them to go locate the volunteers. And 

it is very difficult to find them. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Berman? 

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Mr. BERMAN. Thank you. 

Elaborate on this evaluation of Peace Corps response to sexual 

assault. What is the scope of your sexual assault review? And what 

is the method by which you will incorporate the view of survivors 

and currently serving volunteers? 

Ms. BULLER. The scope of the review, we have tried to limit it 

to more recent, like the past 2 years or so, with the hopes of being 

able to identify individuals who were with the Peace Corps who are 

still with the Peace Corps who may have been involved in the response to the sexual assault for the volunteer. We are——

Mr. BERMAN. You are talking about the staff of the Peace Corps? 

Ms. BULLER. Staff. Yes, sir. Staff. Given the 5-year rule and——

Mr. BERMAN. This is about staff response? 

Ms. BULLER. Yes, staff response. Yes, sir. We are reaching out to 

various organizations. We have reached out to First Response and 

asked them to reach out to its members to allow them to come in 

and speak with us about their circumstances. We, of course, don’t 

want to just call sexual assault victims out of the cold and start 

asking them questions and make them relive their trauma. So we 

are soliciting input through organizations who have contact with 

those individuals. 

Mr. BERMAN. So in this case, your evaluation isn’t just focused 

on your examination of what the staff tells you they responded, but 

you are trying to get a base of data from the victims about their 

views of how the staff responded? 

Ms. BULLER. Exactly, Congressman. We’re trying to get their 

view of how the staff responded and try to marry it up with what 

we find in the records that the Peace Corps has. 

Mr. BERMAN. Okay. In your 2010 audit, you stated that Peace 

Corps didn’t have an adequate process to ensure potential volunteers are fully informed of the security risks before being sent overseas. Do you feel that Peace Corps has sufficiently addressed this 

issue that was disclosed in your 2010 audit? 

Ms. BULLER. That particular recommendation remains open at 

this time. We are currently working with the agency to try to address it, but as of this time, it has not been addressed. 

Mr. BERMAN. That is, fully disclosing the security risks of the 

place where that person is going to be based before they leave 

Washington? 

Ms. BULLER. Yes, sir. We recommended that that be done at 

staging when they bring all of the trainees into Washington or 

whatever other——

Mr. BERMAN. Not in-country? 

Ms. BULLER. Not in-country. 

Mr. BERMAN. And you have done audits relating to the medical 

office of the Peace Corps as well as the safety and security office. 

How do you think a victim’s advocate logically would fit in this 

structure in terms of dealing with the medical office and the safety 

and security office? 

Ms. BULLER. I think where they placed the position currently in 

Peace Corps is probably the best place for it. They placed it directly 

under the Director. So that person doesn’t report to anybody but 

the Director and will have communications between both the medical staff and the office of——

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Mr. BERMAN. Those offices, the medical office, the safety and security office, will have obligations to provide information that the 

victims’ advocate requests? 

Ms. BULLER. That is my understanding of how it works. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BERMAN. So you think they are placed right to get this information? 

Ms. BULLER. I think the person who would seek that information, 

it would be required that they report directly to the Director to 

have the hammer I guess is what you call it to make people respond to them, yes. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I yield back my 50 

seconds. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Berman. 

Mr. Smith? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much. Thank you for your reports. 

You have done a wonderful job. 

Let me ask. You heard Mr. Aaron Williams, I should say, say 

earlier in response to my question in 2009, there were 61 percent 

of those where there was an allegation made that resulted in an 

arrest. Do we know what happened before, in ’08 and ’07, what has 

happened in 2010? And does your office have any information 

about what happened after those arrests in terms of convictions 

and people actually serving time in prison before that? 

Ms. BULLER. No. My office does not have that information. I can 

get the information for you from the previous years and supply 

that for the record. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Is that something that you could look into 

and——

Ms. BULLER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. SMITH. But I am talking about the conviction rates and the 

incarceration and for how many years because obviously the crime 

and the punishment should be commensurate with the crime, the 

punishment ought to be. 

Ms. BULLER. Yes. That is something we could definitely look into. 

[The information referred to follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Because that will give us a better barometer, I would 

suggest, respectfully, as to whether or not a country is serious. 

They may give us a ton of rhetoric, but it really does lie in whether 

or not these men go to prison. 

Let me just ask you, if I could, about when it comes to safety 

versus mission, I would argue that safety trumps everything. Mission is important, but there is not an acceptable risk for a Peace 

Corps volunteer, really. 

Some people in the State Department choose hazardous deployments. They get hazardous pay. Very often they go without their 


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spouse and family because of it. Are there places that ought to be 

deemed off limits where there has been a pattern of abuse in not 

just countries but subdivisions within those countries where that 

area ought to be put off limits? 

Ms. BULLER. That is a very good question, Congressman. That is 

really a management decision that should be made by the agency. 

My office can review those decisions and make assessments as to 

whether or not they have applied the criteria that they have developed in order to make those placements, but that is a management 

decision. 

Mr. SMITH. Is it something you might include in your recommendations? Because it seems to me that in response to the IG, 

you have provided the blueprint for the Peace Corps to act. So perhaps you could incorporate that into your general recommendations 

because it seems to me to send a women, you might say, ‘‘Oh, this 

country is fine but not that part of the country’’ and she walks 

right into harm’s way. 

Let me ask you, too. You have testified that many of your recommendations remain enacted upon. Are there instances where the 

Peace Corps has gone beyond what the IG has recommended? Have 

they been proactive in areas that even your office did not anticipate 

or are they reactive? 

Ms. BULLER. They are primarily reactive. I can’t think of a situation off the top of my head. If I do, however, I will provide it to 

you for the record. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. I mean, it is unfortunate. They should be exceeding. Once you brought the attention back in the early part of 

this decade, they should have been working on this night and day 

to ensure that those women are in the safest environment imaginable. And to think that year in/year out they might, some women 

might, be going back to where 2 years ago this same program director, like in Nepal, where Carol Marie Clark, as you heard, testified 

that the Nepalese Peace Corps program director was telling her 

and other women that in order to get their checks, they had to 

have sex with him and that the volunteer country director said 

that they ought to get a thicker skin to deal with that kind of harassment and threat. 

So the next question would be, what happens to people? Is there 

any record of what has happened when an allegation is made 

against a superior, whether it be indigenous to that country or an 

American serving abroad? Are charges brought against them? And 

how do we vet? 

I mean, it seems to me that this program director because he did 

rape her eventually, as she testified, this director found a place 

where he would have an ongoing group of women coming in, would 

wait for the opportunity if he couldn’t coerce them to begin with. 

In this case, she was partying, couldn’t stop him. And how many 

times did he do it before and after? 

I’m sure she was not the only one that he raped. And I’m wondering what happens to somebody like that? You know, we have 

found, I would say, Madam Chair, in the area of peacekeeping because I have held hearings on the deployment of peacekeepers in 

DR Congo and elsewhere who rape 13-year-olds. And then they 

find themselves on another redeployment somewhere else under 

135

the zero tolerance policy of the Secretary General of the United Nations. If you could speak to that, please? 

Ms. BULLER. There are processes in place for getting rid of local 

hire staff, where they are PSCs or direct hires. I think the better 

provision would be not to hire people like that. And we have made 

recommendations concerning the lack of security background 

checks for host country staff and contractors. 

There has been, as I said in my testimony, 44 percent of countries that we went into did not comply with that—and it has gone 

up since they changed the requirements to include short-term contractors. 

So there is a real need for compliance with that particular recommendation. And if they did comply with it, situations like that 

would be prevented. 

Mr. SMITH. I would hope—and I hope the Peace Corps takes this 

to heart—that if there is one instance of an allegation being made, 

that is enough to trigger a significant investigation so we don’t 

wait until that woman herself is raped or others who are in a similarly vulnerable position. 

Thank you so much. 

Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Smith. 

Thank you, Ms. Buller. And we are all highly supportive of the 

great mission and the work of the Peace Corps. We want to make 

sure that it is a polished jewel and that we will make the recommendations that we hope the Peace Corps will implement to secure the safety of all of the volunteers and change the culture from 

blaming the victim to supporting the victim and holding the perpetrators of this violence accountable for their acts. 

And, with that, our committee is adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 12:35 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

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