Air Force confirms Wisconsin National Guard investigation

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Air Force investigators have confirmed they’re looking into allegations of sexual assault and harassment within a Wisconsin Air National Guard security unit, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office said on Wednesday.

Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, asked the Air Force on Nov. 13 to investigate claims involving members of the 115th Fighter Wing’s Security Forces Squadron, a group of about 100 airmen that polices the Truax Field Air National Guard Base in Madison.

Baldwin made the request after Jay Ellis, a master sergeant in the squadron, called her office and said he had learned of six incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault against female squadron members between 2002 and 2016. He alleged that high-ranking commanders have done little in response. One of the women told The Associated Press in an interview that superior officers sexually assaulted her and her friend during a party in 2002 at a training base in Nevada as the unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq.

None of the women in any of the incidents Ellis cited filed formal complaints, citing fear of retaliation, Ellis said.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations wrote back to Baldwin on Nov. 16 saying the matter had been referred to personnel responsible for the Madison area.

The letter did not say if an investigation was underway.

Ellis told the AP that investigators from Scott Air Force Base in Illinois had got in touch with him on Nov. 16 and asked him for details of the incidents and the names of the people involved.

Baldwin’s office on Wednesday released a letter from the AFOSI dated Dec. 21. Jacqueline Albright,  AFOSI Inspector General, wrote in the letter that investigators had spoken to Ellis on Nov. 16 but he wouldn’t identify any of the victims. He called back on Nov. 28, however, and provided one woman’s name. Albright said the AFOSI is conducting a complete review of all the information Ellis provided in the two conversations and “has initiated additional investigative steps.”

Baldwin spokesman John Kraus said her office received the letter this week.