DENVER -- Nearly one in five female Air Force Academy cadets say they have been sexually assaulted in their time at the academy -- acts that the school's new commanding officer says are tarnishing the institution's image.

The findings come from a Defense Department survey considered to be preliminary. A department official who had read the results, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the questionnaire administered this year showed that 109 of the 579 female cadets surveyed, or 18.8 percent, said they had been sexually assaulted in their time at the academy. Sexual assault was defined as anything from unwanted touching to rape.

In 89 percent of the cases, the alleged assailant was identified as another cadet.

In a statement, academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John A. Rosa said he had reviewed a summary of the inspector general's report.

"Although the summary contains preliminary information, it is conclusive that we have a problem," he said. "It is also clear that we have to address the problem, and we have to address it now. ... progress has certainly been made in recent months, but it is clear we have a lot of work to do and it is going to take a concerted effort by everyone to fix it."

The survey was completed in the past six months. It also found that 3 percent of freshman female cadets who responded and 11 percent of female senior cadets reported having been the victim of rape or attempted rape since enrolling at the academy. It is not known where or when those reported rapes occurred or how many cadets responded to the survey. Sixteen of percent of the cadet population is female.

Defense Department officials would not comment on the report but an Air Force official told 7NEWS that the survey is consistent with the data that the Air Force's internal review used.

However, 7NEWS' Investigative Reporter John Ferrugia says that surveys conducted by the Air Force Academy from 1996 to 2002 consistently showed the same numbers as this recent scientific survey, but they were discounted by Air Force officials. They told Congress that those "social climate surveys" were not valid and had argued that none of the top leadership at the academy should be held accountable for the sexual assault problem because the numbers on the surveys weren't accurate.

"For years the Air Force leadership has known there is a serious problem with sexual assault and rape at the Air Force Academy and did virtually nothing to address it," Ferrugia said.

In Thursday's stunning turnaround, an Air Force spokesman told Ferrugia that those so-called "invalid" climate surveys were consistent with the survey completed by the DOD's Inspector General.

If that is true, and the Air Force leadership has been briefed for years about the problem and done nothing, then why has the former Commandant of Cadets Taco Gilbert, who was forced out as a result of 7NEWS' investigation, faced no disciplinary action, some critics have asked.

The DOD's Inspector General is only one of several groups looking into the scandal. The Air Force Inspector General is also involved in an investigation and there is a report due out late next month from the civilian committee authorized by Congress to investigate sexual assaults at the academy.

Many female cadets also claimed that academy leaders were complacent when they raised allegations of rape or sexual assault, and in some cases punished or ostracized the purported victim.

A second survey was administered to cadets on Wednesday and a third is expected this fall. The upcoming survey will also be given to cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to compare the climate at the three academies, Weida said.

The inspector general's report containing the survey results is expected to be released in December.

Cadets Get Dressing Down

On a related note, one of the top two officials at the Air Force Academy gave a speech Thursday to all cadets following a weekend underage drinking incident.

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AFA Cadets Dressed Down

The 4,000 cadets were lectured about the consequences to their military careers and to the institution. The speech was given by Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida (pictured, right), the commandant of cadets.

"If you think we don't have a sexual assault, of sexual harassment, problem at the Academy (then) your head is in the sand," Weida said. "Pull it out right now."

He also told cadets they are right to be upset over continued problems among their ranks.

"If you are a man or woman of character, you should be mad as hell," he said. "You should take great offense that our institution's reputation and honor has been stained."

"If we don't reverse this trend, the very existence of this institution is threatened," he said.

He also addressed the DOD's survey.

"I've seen the numbers, and we have a problem," Weida told reporters.

The speech comes after seven male cadets were caught in an off-campus hotel room last weekend with two female teenagers. The two girls, ages 16 and 18, and the three cadets who were under 21 years old, were ticketed by police for drinking.

"If you think this problem has been blown out of proportion by the media, you are wrong," Weida told the cadets.

Rosa said any cadet found to have supplied alcohol to a minor would most likely be expelled under the "agenda of change" that the academy put in place after this year's sexual assault scandal.

The Air Force said that alcohol was a factor in almost half of the recent sexual assault scandals involving cadets that have come to light in the past decade. The academy is cooperating in investigations of 56 alleged sexual assaults by cadets since 1993.