Reps. Norma Torres & Andy Kim Lead Letter in Support of Robust FY24 Funding for Military Criminal Investigative Organizations
Washington, D.C. – Representatives Norma J. Torres (CA-35) and Andy Kim (NJ-03), who is Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, recently led 16 of their fellow lawmakers in a letter that called for adequate, stable funding for Military Criminal Investigative Organizations (MCIOs) to be included in the FY24 Defense Appropriations funding bill. The lawmakers highlighted that MCIOs need additional resources after a series of high-profile crimes against servicemembers – including the murders of Rep. Torres' constituent, Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez, at Fort Bragg and Spc. Vanessa Guillen at Fort Hood – emphasized inadequacies in MCIO investigations.
"The challenges faced by the MCIOs are complex. Over the past decade, the volume of investigations has increased significantly, with sexual assault investigations roughly doubling. The complexity of investigations has also increased, with many depending on digital forensics or novel DNA analysis that require specialized tools, training, and experience. Funding for the MCIOs has not kept pace with the need," the lawmakers wrote.
"The Army CID has recently remedied its lack of dedicated cold case specialists by setting up a much-needed Cold Case Unit at Quantico, which requires robust funding to allow previously unsolved cases to be successfully solved, often with innovative technology," the lawmakers continued. "As CID staffs up, we remain concerned that CID remains a selective service, unlike its competitor agencies, and urge the Committee to consider encouraging DOD to transition CID to a competitive service in keeping with the needs of the organization."
"We recognize that funding is not the only problem facing the MCIOs, but without adequate and stable funding, the MCIOs will continue to struggle to achieve their critical mission. We respectfully ask the Subcommittee to include report language providing robust and predictable funding to all MCIOs commensurate with their caseloads; additional funds for CID to hire civilian special investigators (known as 1811s); funding to the CID for a pilot program to grow the pipeline of current and former military personnel transitioning to civilian special agent roles as well as opportunities for local and state investigators to train with and transition to CID; transitioning the CID to a competitive service to enable needed personnel acquisition; and to offer clear direction to the Services that they must make every effort to avoid mid-year budget reductions to the MCIOs," the lawmakers concluded.
Congresswoman Torres and Ranking Member Kim led Representatives Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Shontel Brown (OH-11), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Jesu?s G. "Chuy" Garci?a (IL-04), Rau?l M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Ted W. Lieu (CA-36), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Jennifer L. McClellan (VA-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Juan Vargas (CA-52), and Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29) in sending the letter.
The full text of the letter is available here.