10:24 p.m. EDT April 10, 2014  funny thing happened in the Senate this week: The cat that had the Army's tongue on sexual assault in its ranks loosened its grip.

For a moment, and not entirely.

A three-star general discussed for the first time in public information about soldiers disqualified from "positions of trust." It's some of the same data that the Army recently required USA TODAY to request under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The Army has scrubbed its ranks of recruiters, instructors and sexual assault counselors in the last year for bad actors. That came after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the services to vet troops more closely following revelations that sexual assault in the ranks had become a crisis. The Army disqualified 588 soldiers, far more than any other service. The Navy dropped 151 sailors and civilians; the Air Force disqualified two airmen; and the Marine Corps didn't find one marine unqualified.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is the New York Democrat who has championed measures to reform the way the military prosecutes sexual assault among troops. At a meeting of the Armed Services subcommittee on personnel, she asked the Army's top personnel officer, Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, what the Army had done to soldiers deemed unqualified.

"Are the the individuals removed from those positions? Of course, we removed them for a wide variety of reasons," Bromberg answered. "We went back and looked at everything. There are about 10 categories. Everything from a sexual — a previous domestic violence or sexual assault."

Some disqualified soldiers were sent back to their previous jobs, Bromberg said. For example, a recruiter convicted of drunk driving 15 years ago would have been sent back to his primary specialty, infantry or artillery, Bromberg said.

Gillibrand also took note of a new Army policy: The secretary of the Army will determine if a soldier convicted of a sexual offense will be retained in the service.

She pressed him: "Under what circumstances will the Army retain a soldier convicted of a sexual offense?"

Bromberg responded: "I think that's a case by case answer, but the intent there again is to make sure that we're fully informed."

"So we do have convicted sexual offenders retained within the force?" she continued.

The only place the Army retains them, the general said, is in jail.

Gillibrand still wants more detail from the Army, her spokesman, Glen Caplin, said Thursday.

"While Senator Gillibrand commends the Army for implementing this review, as always, the devil is in the details, and we need the full transparency expected to make a proper assessment," he said.