The Marine Corps took a new step Tuesday to stop sexual harassment in the service, requiring commanders to submit anyone involved in a substantiated case to be reviewed for separation from the service the first time they are caught.

The move was disclosed in an administrative message, and revises the Marine Corps Separation and Retirement Manual.

It specifically applies to cases in which a Marine distributes intimate photographs of someone else without their consent, as well as harassment in which a Marine offers to influence someone’s career in exchange for sexual favors or initiates unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature.

The move comes as the service grapples with the fallout of a scandal first reported in March, in which dozens of Marines are believed to have accessed nude photographs of female colleagues through a Facebook group called Marines United.

The move appears to provide new teeth to a regulation change in which the Navy and Marine Corps last month explicitly barred the nonconsensual sharing of nude photographs.

Washington Post