Carrier Kitty Hawk to Sail Despite Theft Probe

The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk is scheduled to sail from San Diego today on a six-month Western Pacific and Indian Ocean cruise amid concerns that the voyage may hamper a federal investigation into the sale of stolen aircraft parts to Iran.

Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) Tuesday called on Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger to move swiftly to step up federal investigations before the Kitty Hawk departs.

“If we wait six months for the return of this ship, the trail will have grown cold, more records may have gone over the side and the informant (Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Jackson) will no longer be on active duty,” Bates wrote in a letter to Weinberger.

Jackson has given Bates, the Navy and the FBI a statement and 1,100 pages of documents detailing widespread abuse and waste within the Kitty Hawk supply system, including the dumping overboard of supplies ranging from desks to radar equipment.

Jackson sent a telegram on Tuesday to President Reagan urging him to stop the Kitty Hawk from sailing. “If the carrier gets underway, I believe valuable evidence necessary to the investigation of my charges will be altered and destroyed,” Jackson wrote.

Weinberger told Bates during a 10-minute telephone conversation Tuesday that the Kitty Hawk’s maneuvers could not be delayed. But Weinberger said he would contact the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General to make sure the investigation proceeds in a “timely manner,” Bates said.

Meanwhile, the Kitty Hawk this week won the Navy’s coveted Efficiency Award for the Pacific Fleet’s best-run supply department. The competition, which covers all areas of supply management from parts to laundry service, is held every 18 months among the fleet’s six aircraft carriers. The carrier Constellation won the “E” award for the past two contests.

The award comes at a time when the Kitty Hawk has come under fire for recent procurement abuses.

The U.S. Customs Service, FBI and Naval Investigative Service are investigating an international theft ring that allegedly shipped stolen F-14 fighter plane parts to Iran. Seven people, including a Kitty Hawk aviation storekeeper, have been arrested so far in the case.

In a separate investigation, authorities are looking into the disappearance of more than $1 million in equipment and supplies from the vessel, including 31 silver bars that vanished in 1983.

Federal investigators have interviewed Jackson, 26, who served as an auditor aboard the Kitty Hawk for the past 21 months. Jackson’s statements and documents allege that millions of dollars worth of supplies on the Kitty Hawk were unaccounted for.

“I don’t think the allegations should now detract from the award,” said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Tom Jurkowsky in San Diego.

“The Kitty Hawk won it fair and square. She won it because she measured up and did better than all the other carriers in the Pacific Fleet.”

Jurkowsky described calls to keep the Kitty Hawk in port as “ludicrous. It’s totally absurd to preclude a carrier from sailing as part of a normal deployment.”

He said that investigators on board the ship can collect statements, gather evidence and communicate with their supervisors in the same manner as if the Kitty Hawk was docked in San Diego Bay.

Winston Kuehl, regional director for NIS operations, said that one Navy investigator usually accompanies the Kitty Hawk at sea. On this deployment, three investigators will sail with the crew.

“It’s specifically to handle anything that comes up in the course of our investigation here that would have ramifications aboard the ship,” Kuehl said.

Due to “political” questions that have surfaced over the Kitty Hawk’s trip, the FBI refused to disclose whether any of its agents would be on board, said Gary Penrith, special agent in charge for FBI operations in San Diego.

The Kitty Hawk has a complement of about 5,000 officers and enlisted men on board. Its escort consists of three cruisers, four destroyers and two frigates, all based in San Diego.

The ship will conduct routine anti-submarine, surface and air exercises during the deployment, in addition to protecting oil tankers cruising in the Persian Gulf. The ship’s schedule calls for at least one stop in the Philippines.

When the Kitty Hawk leaves at about noon today, a formation of sailors will spell out “We America” on the flight deck. A press release from the carrier had said the sailors would form the words “We Love San Diego,” but the message was changed by the ship’s officers.