A sergeant in charge of sexual assault prevention at Fort Hood is under investigation for alleged sexual assault, the Pentagon announced Tuesday night. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) Story Highlights Accused sergeant first class in charge of sexual assault prevention 
 
 Soldier has been relieved of his duties 
 
 No charges filed yet, Pentagon says 
 
 WASHINGTON -- A sergeant first class in charge of sexual assault prevention at Fort Hood is under investigation for sexual assault, the Pentagon announced Tuesday night. 
 
 The soldier, whose name has not been released, is being investigated for abusive sexual contact, pandering, assault and maltreatment of subordinates. The soldier has been relieved of his duties at the Texas post, and no charges have yet been filed, the Pentagon said. He oversaw the program at the battalion level, a unit of about 800 soldiers. 
 
 The soldier is being investigated for, among other things, forcing a subordinate into prostitution and sexually assaulting two others, according to a Capitol Hill staffer who was briefed on the case and spoke about it on condition of anonymity. 
 
 Two senior Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation, also confirmed that the sergeant is being investigated for running a prostitution ring. 
 
 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reacted with "frustration, anger and disappointment over these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply," Pentagon press secretary George Little said. 
 
 The revelation is the latest in a string of sex-abuse scandals to rock the military. Earlier this month, the officer in charge of the Air Force's sexual abuse prevention programs at the Pentagon was arrested not far from his office for drunkenly groping a woman, according to police. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski faces a trial in July for sexual battery. He has been removed from his job, and his arrest drew condemnation from Hagel and President Obama. 
 
 Top Air Force officials have also been criticized on how they have handled the sexual assault issues. Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh was blasted by senators, including Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., for blaming "hook-up culture" for contributing to the service's sexual abuse problems. 
 
 "To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement. For the second time in a week we are seeing someone who is supposed to be preventing sexual assault being investigated for committing that very act," said Gillibrand, who chairs the personnel panel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We have to do better by the men and women serving and assure them that they will not be attacked by their colleagues." 
 
 Also last week: The Pentagon estimated that sexual assaults surged 35% from 2010 to 2012, totaling 26,000. "Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee. 
 
 Contributing: Gregg Zoroya 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/16cMiiN ||||| A soldier assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program in Texas is under investigation for "abusive sexual contact" and other alleged misconduct and has been suspended from his duties, the Army announced Tuesday. 
 
 FILE - In this April 29, 2013 file photo, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during a joint news conference at the Pentagon. A soldier assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program in Texas... (Associated Press) 
 
 Just last week an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office was himself arrested on charges of groping a woman in a parking lot. 
 
 The Army said a sergeant first class, whose name was not released, is accused of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates. He is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. No charges have been filed. 
 
 He had been assigned as an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator of a sexual harassment-assault prevention program at the Army's 3rd Corps headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, when the allegation arose, the Army said. 
 
 "To protect the integrity of the investigative process and the rights of all persons involved, no more information will be released at this time," an Army statement said. 
 
 The back-to-back Army and Air Force cases highlight a problem that is drawing increased scrutiny in Congress and expressions of frustration from top Pentagon leaders. Pentagon press secretary George Little said after Tuesday's announcement that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is angry and disappointed at "these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply." 
 
 Little said Hagel met with Army Secretary John McHugh earlier Tuesday and ordered him to "fully investigate this matter rapidly, to discover the extent of these allegations and to ensure that all of those who might be involved are dealt with appropriately." 
 
 Hagel also is directing all the services to retrain, recredential, and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters, Little said. 
 
 Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Tuesday evening saying his panel is considering a number of measures to counter the problem, including changes to the military justice code, and will act on them next month. 
 
 "Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," Levin said. 
 
 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said she intends to present new comprehensive legislation on Thursday to reform the military justice system by removing chain-of-command influence from prosecution of sex abuse crimes. 
 
 "To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement," Gillibrand said. "For the second time in a week we are seeing someone who is supposed to be preventing sexual assault being investigated for committing that very act." 
 
 House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon said in a statement he was "outraged and disgusted by the reports out of Fort Hood." 
 
 McKeon, noting he has a granddaughter in the Army, said he saw "no meaningful distinction between complacency or complicity in the military's latest failure to uphold their own standards of conduct. Nor do I see a distinction between the service member who orchestrated this offense and the chain of command that was either oblivious to or tolerant of criminal behavior. Both are accountable for this appalling breach of trust with their subordinates." 
 
 The Army announcement comes as the Pentagon continues to struggle with what it calls a growing epidemic of sexual assaults across the military. In a report last week, the Defense Department estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on survey results. 
 
 Of those, fewer than 3,400 reported the incident, and nearly 800 of them simply sought help but declined to file formal complaints against their alleged attackers. 
 
 The military is struggling with a variety of sexual assault scandals, including an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and the recent arrest of the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot. 
 
 A police report said that Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks. The woman fought him off and called police, the report said. A judge has set a July 18 trial date for Krusinski. 
 
 Congressional outrage over these incidents and two recent decisions by officers to overturn juries' guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases has prompted outrage on Capitol Hill. 
 
 Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin reversed the conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy, who was found guilty last year of charges of abusive sexual contact, aggravated sexual assault and three instances of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. 
 
 And Sen. Claire McCaskill is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until McCaskill gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case. 
 
 Members of Congress also met at the White House with senior administration officials to talk about measures to encourage more victims to come forward and ensure that perpetrators face justice. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report. 
 
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 Follow Robert Burns on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertburnsAP ||||| Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday evening ordered the armed services to immediately “re-train, re-credential and re-screen” tens of thousands of military recruiters and sexual-assault prevention officers as the revelation of another sex-crime scandal rocked the Pentagon. 
 
 Hagel’s order came in response to the Army’s disclosure Tuesday that a sergeant first class responsible for handling sexual-assault cases at Fort Hood, Tex., had been placed under criminal investigation over allegations of abusive sexual contact and other related matters. 
 
 Investigators are also scrutinizing allegations that the sergeant may have forced a subordinate into prostitution, according to a U.S. official familiar with the case. 
 
 Army Secretary John McHugh acknowledged Wednesday that investigators were looking into suspicions that the sergeant was involved in “pandering,” or promoting prostitution. “They’re pursuing all the possibilities,” he said in a brief interview at the Pentagon. “We have to remember they are just allegations at this point. Until the criminal investigation is completed, it’s unwise for us to speculate” 
 
 McHugh said he learned about the investigation Sunday night. Defense officials said he informed Hagel on Tuesday morning and that the defense secretary in turn notified President Obama during a meeting at the White House Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 The Army investigation comes just 10 days after a lieutenant colonel who led the Air Force’s sexual-assault prevention programs was arrested in Arlington County on charges that he groped and battered a woman in a parking lot. That incident, along with fresh statistics showing that sex crimes have become endemic in the military, sparked a furious response from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and President Obama. 
 
 Hagel warned last week that the military’s ability to recruit and perform its missions was becoming endangered by deepening public perceptions that the armed forces are unable or unwilling to cope with a sexual-assault crisis in the ranks. The latest embarrassment only made him more angry, Pentagon officials said. 
 
 “He is going to spare no effort to address this problem,” George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters Wednesday. Little said the public, lawmakers and military personnel “have the right to be outraged” about the Fort Hood investigation. 
 
 Neither the Pentagon nor the Army identified the sergeant because no charges have been filed. Special agents from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command are probing allegations that the sergeant first class mistreated subordinates, committed assault and abusive sexual contact, and engaged in pandering, the Pentagon said in a statement. 
 
 Officials said the noncommissioned officer had been suspended from duties as an “equal-opportunity adviser” and sexual-harassment and assault prevention officer at Fort Hood, one of the Army’s biggest installations. The Pentagon did not disclose when the allegations first came to light or how many victims may have been involved. 
 
 Reaction from lawmakers was swift and livid. 
 
 “Tragically, the depth of the sexual-assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said lawmakers would push ahead with a number of measures to address sexual assault in the armed forces, including changes to military law. 
 
 Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called the Fort Hood revelations “utterly abhorrent.” She added that “it has become painfully evident that saying the military has a cultural problem in regard to sexual assault and sexual misconduct is a glaring understatement.” 
 
 Rep. Howard P. “Buck” Mc­Keon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that he was “outraged and disgusted” and that his faith in the military to police sex crimes was “deeply shaken.” 
 
 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she would introduce legislation Thursday to change military law so that independent prosecutors, not commanders, would be responsible for handling sex crimes and other serious offenses. Military leaders have strenuously resisted such proposals. 
 
 “It is time to get serious and get to work reforming the military justice system that clearly isn’t working,” Gillibrand said. 
 
 In addition to directing that hundreds of sexual-assault prevention coordinators be retrained and rescreened, Hagel ordered the same treatment for all military recruiters. That move alone would affect an estimated 20,000 recruiters for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. 
 
 The Washington Post reported Monday that military recruiters across the country have been caught in a string of sexual-assault scandals over the past year. The Pentagon, however, does not have a grasp on the extent of the problem because it does not track sex crimes committed by its personnel against civilians before they enlist. 
 
 Last week, the Pentagon released a report estimating that the number of military personnel victimized by sexual assault and related crimes had surged by about 35 percent over the past two years despite intensive efforts to confront the problem. 
 
 The Pentagon survey estimated that 26,000 troops experienced “unwanted sexual contact” last year. Yet only a fraction of that number — 3,374 — filed sexual-assault reports with military police or prosecutors. 
 
 Military officials said most victims are reluctant to press charges because they fear retaliation from their superiors or ostracism from their units, or that investigators won’t take their cases seriously. 
 
 Lawmakers and victim advocates also blame an unwillingness among many commanders to deal with the problem forthrightly. 
 
 Members of Congress said they were outraged to learn about two cases in which Air Force generals granted clemency to convicted sex offenders, adding that the decisions would discourage other victims from reporting rape or sexual abuse. 
 
 “It is abundantly clear that the military cannot adequately handle its sexual violence crisis from within,” said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain and executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, an advocacy group. “If military culture is to transform in any meaningful way, we need to break down the doors of silence and make sure our troops who are harmed have access to the same legal remedies as all civilians whom they protect and defend.”
– Yet another military sex-crime probe has spurred Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to order an immediate review of recruiting and sexual assault prevention programs, the Washington Post reports. In the latest scandal, a sergeant at Fort Hood has been suspended over allegations of sexual assault—while serving as coordinator of a sexual harassment and assault prevention program. The Army says the sergeant is being investigated for "pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault, and maltreatment of subordinates," reports CNN, and officials tell USA Today that he is suspected of forcing a subordinate into prostitution. The Fort Hood case—which follows the arrest of the head of the US Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office on sexual assault charges last week—comes amid a rise in sexual assaults in the military. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the panel is working on ways to deal with the problem, the AP reports. "Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," he said.