As part of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the inclusion of Article 117a allows the military justice system to prosecute service members for maliciously distributing sexually explicit images, the Army News Service reports. Before the inclusion of Article 117a, Lt. Col. Jay Thoman explained there was a limit to the actions the U.S. military legal system could take against a service member, but now, as part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the article "fills a gap in military law" and provides clarification on what specifically constitutes wrongdoing. "It seems that Congress wanted to make sure that this type of behavior was unmistakably not acceptable," Thoman said. "Criminalizing the conduct sent just that message." 
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