‘Handful of Junior Officers’ Blamed for Tailhook Scandal

The Navy’s acting secretary said Wednesday that a “handful of junior officers” had sexually abused women at the Tailhook convention and that too many people “have been tarred with a brush they really don’t deserve.”

Sean O’Keefe said the service’s morale “has been battered” as a result of the incidents at the 1991 aviators’ convention in Las Vegas.

“The issue that disturbs me is . . . there’s a handful of junior officers who somehow have forgotten the term ‘officer and a gentleman’ didn’t come from a Hollywood script,” O’Keefe told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

He said the term originated with John Paul Jones, the Revolutionary-era captain revered as the father of many Navy traditions.

“It came from the very essence of what the naval service is all about . . . and somebody forgot that along the way,” O’Keefe said.

He took over the top civilian slot two weeks ago in the wake of the resignation of H. Lawrence Garrett III, who cited a “leadership failure” in connection with the Navy’s response to the abuse cases.

O’Keefe joined Adm. Frank B. Kelso, the chief of naval operations, to discuss the Navy’s plans for reshuffling its top echelons.

Kelso dismissed rumors that he intends to resign and promised to press for consideration of female officers for promotion to admiral.

Kelso and O’Keefe outlined their plans for a major reorganization of the chief of naval operation’s top staff. The changes abolish separate offices for the admirals considered the “barons” of the Navy--submarine warfare, surface warfare and air warfare--in moves designed to cut down on infighting among branches eager for money and power amid budget cutbacks.