Navy Gun-Smuggling Inquiry Scored by Defense Dept.’s Inspector General

The Defense Department’s inspector general has criticized the Navy for a “completely inadequate” investigation of the Grenada gun-smuggling charges involving Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf III and has accused the Atlantic Fleet commander of “poor judgment” in allowing Metcalf to stop the inquiry, a report released Tuesday said.

The report by Inspector General Joseph H. Sherick said that Adm. Wesley L. McDonald, the Atlantic Fleet commander, was “remiss” in indicating to naval investigators that Metcalf was responsible for determining whether there was need for an inquiry.

Navy investigators also were blamed in the 37-page report for failing to be “adequately aggressive in dealing with” Metcalf.

The report was cited Friday by Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. as evidence for exonerating Metcalf and concluding that McDonald had “acted properly” in handling the incident. Lehman was unavailable Tuesday to discuss the apparent inconsistency between his statement about McDonald and the report’s findings, but a Navy spokesman said Lehman stood by his comment.

Lehman had declined to release the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post Tuesday after a formal request to the Pentagon.

Metcalf, who commanded the U.S. invasion of Grenada in October, 1983, returned to Norfolk in a plane carrying 24 captured Soviet-made automatic rifles, including some tagged with his name or those of members of his staff. Federal and military regulations prohibit importing automatic weapons.