Friends Say the Navy Lost ‘Straight Arrow’ in Garrett : Ethics: Resigned secretary is called an ‘honorable’ man who took ethics in government seriously.

Larry Garrett’s resignation Friday as Navy secretary followed a long federal career in which he specialized in government ethics, and thus it came as no surprise to his friends.

“It’s typical of Larry to do the right thing, or at least what he perceived to be the right thing,” said a former colleague who declined use of his name. “He’s a real straight arrow on ethics.”

H. Lawrence Garrett III, 53, served as an associate White House counsel for three years in the Ronald Reagan Administration before becoming the Pentagon’s top lawyer in 1986. He became undersecretary of the Navy a year later and was appointed secretary in April, 1989.

“He took all his responsibilities so seriously,” the friend said. “I know the Tailhook investigation was eating him alive.”

At the White House, Garrett specialized in advising incoming presidential appointees on avoiding conflicts of interest, and when they left government, on what restrictions applied to them in private life. For example, federal law prohibits such appointees from lobbying or contacting their old office-mates on behalf of a client for at least a year, and Garrett advised them they must also avoid any government programs over which they ever had jurisdiction.

Aside from his service as a government lawyer, Garrett, who received his law degree with honors in 1972 from the University of San Diego, also was a decorated Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. He had first enlisted in the Navy in 1961 and qualified as a machinist’s mate aboard submarines before attending flight school and taking a commission as a naval flight officer in 1964. Later he served aboard maritime patrol aircraft during the Vietnam War, rising to the rank of commander.

Fred W. Fielding, a Washington attorney and former White House counsel, called Garrett “one of the most honorable men I’ve ever met.”

“It is tragic that someone who worked so hard for the Navy has been confronted with this sort of incident on his watch,” Fielding said, referring to the Tailhook investigation.

Garrett had been a Navy lawyer helping the federal Office of Government Ethics during the Reagan transition in late 1980 when he caught Fielding’s eye. He was signed on a month later and brought into the White House at the start of the Administration.

Adding to his reputation as a man of high ethical conduct, Garrett apparently took no action to stop disciplinary measures earlier this year against his own son, a Navy yeoman.

The son, H.L. Garrett IV, was punished by the Navy for his involvement in 1991 credit card thefts in San Diego. He was reduced in rank from yeoman to seaman apprentice, received 30 days of restriction, 30 days of extra duty and had to forfeit the equivalent of one month’s pay, according to a statement released by the Bureau of Naval Personnel.