WASHINGTON: More than 220 serving and former US diplomats, defense and national security officials have added their names to the #metoo movement, releasing a letter saying that sexual harassment is rife in their professions.

In the open letter posted online late Monday, the “women of the national security community” protested abuse and discrimination, saying that as in the private sector their complaints are ignored and they are held back professionally by the men they work with.

“We, too, are survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse or know others who are,” they wrote in the letter headed #metoonatsec.

“This is not just a problem in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, newsrooms or Congress. It is everywhere.—AFP