“I do not think that’s a good idea, frankly, I think it begins to erode the responsibility of the chain of command in this,” said former Gen. Joseph Votel, who retired in 2018 as the commander of U.S. Central Command.

“I think that is a cultural issue that has to be addressed on almost a unit-by-unit basis," he said. "[It is the] responsibility of unit commanders to create organizational cultures that allow people to come forward with allegations and report these kinds of things without fear that there will be pushback on them.”