Martha McSally: Prevalence of sexual abuse in military is a national security threat

A hearing on sexual assault in the military Wednesday was personal for Senator Martha McSally. The freshman Arizona Republican revealed before the Senate Armed Services Committee she had been raped by a superior officer while serving in the Air Force.

In her first interview since coming forward with the revelation, McSally told "CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell she spoke out to "give the perspective of why I am advocating so strongly for women in the military." A portion of the interview will air Thursday on "CBS This Morning," with more of McSally's comments airing on Friday.

"If anybody last night or 50 years ago has also been through a sexual assault, I just want to give them some hope. I want to shine a flashlight for them, that today can be a new day. That they can find some healing in their own lives," McSally said. "They can find their own purpose and not be held back and not be stopped from fulfilling all of their potential in life because of the awful things that they were victimized from. Don't let your assaulter rob you of your future. Don't do it."

"It's not just as a commander that I speak, but it's as a survivor that I just felt I needed to talk about it but it isn't about me. I wanted to give the perspective of why I am advocating so strongly for women in the military and why I'm advocating that the command chain has to step up and do their job to rid us of sexual assault," McSally said.

McSally, appointed to the Senate in December, is a 26-year military veteran and was the first female fighter pilot to fly combat missions. She said speaking about her assault in such a public forum brought back "the very real memories and the realities of it." But she's glad she did it. She also said she believes the prevalence of sexual assault and abuse in the military is a national security threat.

"I don't want people to think, like, well maybe it's just all these problems we have now that there are women in the military. Think about it – if you have a predator, if you have a rapist who is serving in uniform, you don't deal with it by keeping a woman out of their unit. Because that predator is going to go assault someone else," McSally told O'Donnell.