The issue came to a head with the charging of two male cadets at the elite Defence Force Academy after they broadcast the seduction of a female colleague over Skype last year.
Smith released only limited extracts of the DLA Piper Review, but a copy of the executive summary was obtained by the ABC under freedom of information laws.
"The materials released [by the ABC] simply serve to further underline the seriousness of the matters I've been dealing with for some considerable time," he said.
The full executive summary covered allegations by 847 former and serving members of the military, beginning with the alleged abuse of a 13-year-old boy in 1951 and continuing through every decade since.
The "incredibly diverse" allegations were made by both men and women in relation to conduct by other men, women and groups, covering every occupation and area of defence operations.
And as bad as the cases reported to the review were, they were likely to be only the tip of an appalling iceberg.
"The review is inclined to the view that the allegations of sexual and other abuse [it considered] probably represent a relatively small proportion of the incidents of sexual and other abuse which have occurred in the ADF in the past," the executive summary said.
Among the most disturbing allegations were those surrounding boys as young as 13, recruited into the navy from that age until the 1970s. Fifteen-year-olds were accepted by all three services until the recruitment age was set at 17 a decade ago.
Other claims involved alleged sexual and other serious assaults on minors of both genders. The review said that from the 1950s to the early 1980s, the ADF and successive governments failed to protect young boys aged 13-16, many of whom were subjected to serious sexual, physical and other serious abuse.
"Many of the boys who suffered such abuse later participated in inflicting similar abuse on other children in the ADF," it said.
"Many of the boys who endured and/or participated in inflicting such abuse may have suffered, or be at risk of suffering, mental health, alcohol and drug problems and associated physical health problems affecting not only them but their families."
Their tormentors almost certainly included predatory paedophiles.
"The fact - well-known for decades at least - that some people who wished to have sexual access to boys and young people sought out positions in orphanages, schools, churches and similar institutions where they could have power over, and access to, boys and young people," the review said.
"There is no reason to think that such people would not have targeted relevant parts of the ADF."
The review said the ADF had lacked a rigorous system of checking character and there was a willingness to accept some recruits with criminal records.
Adults and older males also often had power over younger colleagues, exercising a tradition of abuse through a combination of physical strength and seniority or rank.
This included "bastardisation", a brutal rite of passage that would have been criminal outside the ADF and which was commonly inflicted on young recruits.
There was little support for the victims. The review said abuse had been tolerated by a culture that discouraged reporting, and enabled superiors to abuse juniors with impunity. And with little evidence perpetrators has been called to account, the review warned: "There is a risk that [they] now hold middle and senior 'management' positions within the ADF."
