Navy Officers Reportedly ‘Stonewalled’ Investigation Into Sex Abuse

A seven-month Navy investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at a Las Vegas convention last year uncovered “unacceptable conduct,” and a top Navy official said Tuesday that he wants “all appropriate actions” taken against those involved.

However, Navy sources say it is unclear whether any officers will face criminal charges in connection with the incident because investigators were “stonewalled” by Navy and Marine Corps officers.

The investigation centered on allegations that nearly two dozen women were abused during last September’s meeting of the Tailhook Assn., a booster club for active-duty and retired Navy pilots, and others who support naval aviation.

Officials familiar with one of the reported incidents said naval pilots formed a gantlet in a hotel hallway and tried to rip off the clothes and grab women who ran past them.

Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III, who was briefed Tuesday about the Navy’s two investigations into the incident, said he was “appalled by the unacceptable behavior and attitudes reported in those investigations.”

“The investigations indicated a lack of responsibility, absence of moral judgment and inadequate standards of integrity on the part of Navy and Marine Corps officers who could have asserted positive leadership, but failed to do so,” Garrett wrote in a memo made available to the Associated Press.

The memo was addressed to the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Frank Kelso II, and the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Carl Mundy Jr.

Garrett said the Navy “will not condone sexual harassment in any form, or tolerate those who permit it to exist.” He asked the two to “take all appropriate actions” but did not specify what that might be.

Senior Navy sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kelso and Mundy will review the investigations and will forward the results to the commanding officers of those involved. It will then be up to that officer to decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed with what is known as an Article 32, or the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation. That process would determine whether the military would proceed with a court-martial or other disciplinary proceeding.

The source said the memo reflected Garrett’s frustration “because you see a pattern of silence” in the investigation. About 1,500 individuals were interviewed in the probe, he said.

“A lot of senior and junior officers simply wouldn’t cooperate,” the source said.

However, there “are a couple of cases where they could do something,” the source said, referring to charges of criminal conduct.

After the reports surfaced that several women were abused at the meeting last fall, Garrett announced in October that he was cutting ties with the prominent group and expressed “absolute outrage” over the incident.

One female subjected to the gantlet was an aide to Adm. Jack Snyder. The aide reportedly has contended she informed the admiral about the incident the following day.

In December, Kelso ordered Snyder removed from his command at a prominent aviation station because he failed to take “timely action” in response to reports about the allegations.

Snyder was transferred to duty at the Naval Air Systems Command, which is in charge of the service’s purchases and weapons development. He is performing a captain’s job but retains his rank.

The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing anonymous sources, reported Tuesday that Garrett may have learned about the female aide’s complaints within 24 hours of the incident but ignored them. Citing naval investigators speaking on condition of anonymity, the newspaper said the woman immediately informed Garrett’s aide, Lt. Mike Steed, after she was molested. She also informed an aide to Vice Adm. Richard Dunleavy, the newspaper said.

The Union-Tribune quoted investigators who said the aides should have informed Garrett and Dunleavy of the potential embarrassment immediately.

But a senior Navy official in Washington denied that Garrett and Dunleavy knew of the incident.

“It’s a cheap shot, and it’s wrong,” the source told the Associated Press.

Lt. Cmdr. Mark van Dyke, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said he could not say whether Garrett or Dunleavy were a focus of the investigation.

“We can’t comment on individuals who may be subjects or witnesses to an investigation until the investigation is complete, and even then there may be Privacy Act considerations that may prohibit us from releasing names,” Van Dyke said.

Both the Naval Investigative Service and the Navy’s inspector general have looked into the incident.

The Tailhook Assn. is composed of more than 16,000 active-duty and retired Navy pilots and others who support naval aviation.

Garrett’s action ended 35 years of official Navy support for the group and ordered a revamping of Navy policies on sexual harassment.