Army Probing Sex Harassment Claims Among Civilians

The Army is investigating allegations of sexual harassment among civilian employees at two installations in St. Louis, Army sources said Wednesday.

The investigation, which is being handled by the Office of the Army’s Inspector General, was prompted by a review carried out by military consultants at several bases during the summer, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Army Secretary Michael Stone had asked the consultants to determine whether there was any evidence of problems in the Army similar to those revealed by the Navy’s Tailhook sex-abuse scandal, one source said.

During their review, the consultants uncovered complaints of sexual harassment against civilian female employees at the Army Aviation and Troop Command and the Army Reserve Personnel Center, both in St. Louis, another source said. The inspector general was then ordered to conduct a fuller investigation.

The New York Times, which first reported the probe, said Army investigators are looking into as many as 100 accusations of verbal abuse and unwanted sexual advances by senior and middle-level civilian supervisors against civilian female employees.