Despite urgent efforts by the White House, Congress and the Pentagon to address the military's burgeoning sexual assault crisis, degrading hate speech against women remains ubiquitous in the military -- and it's as close as the nearest computer screen.

President Barack Obama emerged from a meeting with Pentagon leaders and service chiefs at the White House on Thursday to say military sexual assault constitutes a national security threat and detailed a three-point agenda intended to combat it.

A suicide bomber rammed his car into a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least six people in the explosion and wounding more than 30. A Kabul provincial police spokesman said the explosion also set nearby buildings on fire.

For the second time this month, a uniformed military official whose job was to prevent sex abuse has come under investigation for a sex crime. The Army is looking into allegations that a sergeant first class at Fort Hood, Texas, sexually abused females in his unit and ran a prostitution ring on the base.