Old white man decides to leave military sexual assault decisions in the hands of old white men

Thanks to Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-MI), top military officers will substantially get their way: Solving the problem that's bigger than they imagined will continue to be up to their imagination. Levin is removing Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's proposal to make trained legal experts in the form of military prosecutors in charge of decisions about prosecuting sexual assaults from a defense spending bill:

Mr. Levin, Democrat of Michigan, said he would replace Ms. Gillibrand’s measure—which has 27 co-sponsors, including four Republicans—with one that would require a senior military officer to review decisions by commanders who decline to prosecute sexual assault cases. Although Mr. Levin’s measure would change the current system, it would keep prosecution of sexual assault cases within the chain of command, as the military wants.

Basically, the old white men in charge of the military said "trust us, we'll start taking sexual assault seriously and we'll make it stop even though we've done neither to date" and the old white man in charge of the Senate Armed Services Committee said "sounds good to me. How about if we make a cosmetic change that leaves you guys still completely in charge but pretends to add accountability?" In other words:

“They basically embrace the status quo here,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, a co-sponsor of Ms. Gillibrand’s bill. “It’s outrageous.”

Gillibrand hasn't yet laid out her plans going forward, but she seems unlikely to let the issue drop:
Meanwhile, Levin, who also stood in the way of filibuster reform, is retiring. So that's one piece of dead wood that won't be fighting for the status quo after 2014.