PERSPECTIVE ON THE NAVY : On Tailhook, Drop the Other Shoe : Release the report on sexual abuse, bring those responsible to justice, and let the service get on with its job.

At a recent Department of Defense press briefing, a spokesman admitted that the explosive official report on the Tailhook investigation, 19 months in the making, is finally complete. But, he said, it is being withheld until the Clinton Administration names and confirms a civilian secretary of the Navy. Others in the Pentagon say that Secretary of Defense Les Aspin is delaying release in an attempt to keep attention focused “laser-like” on the budget.

In the meantime, the Navy and Marine Corps are slowly suffering a death of a thousand cuts, as speculation soars and morale plummets in a service already rocked by plans to allow open homosexuality in the military, freeze pay and slash budgets.

Over the past few months, all sorts of opinions have surfaced concerning the Tailhook investigation. Navy leadership has alternately been accused of heavy-handed justice bordering on a witch hunt and blatant cronyism to protect the “old boys.”

It is an emotional issue, so it’s important to review the history.

Since that fateful night in September, 1991, at the Tailhook association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, the public and the naval service have demanded that those who are guilty of criminal assault be held accountable. The Navy completed its internal investigation in May, 1992, but did not adequately establish accountability. As a consequence, a dedicated public servant of 30 years, Larry Garrett, resigned as secretary of the Navy and accepted responsibility for the inconclusive investigation.

Before departing, Garrett turned the investigation over to the independent office of the Department of Defense inspector general, which advised the Navy not to take further disciplinary action until the new investigation was completed. This important point is often overlooked by those who wanted to immediately shoot a few admirals: Tailhook was essentially frozen in place while the inspector general methodically undertook a massive new investigation.

By law, the inspector general’s authority is without question, and the Navy followed instructions to preclude the implications of tampering that so thoroughly poisoned the previous, internal Navy investigation.

The new Department of Defense investigation was divided into two parts--a critique of the internal Navy probe and a detailed assessment of the actual events that occurred at the Tailhook ’91 convention.

The first part was completed last fall and yielded a thorough skewering of the internal Navy effort. The reverberations were felt throughout the entire Navy Department.

Today, we are still waiting for the other shoe to drop--the release of the section of the report dealing with the actual details of the Tailhook ’91 convention. It is certain to substantiate some of the public allegations and name the accused--and it’s not going to be pretty. It will address criminal allegations as well as point the finger at senior uniformed leadership that tolerated such reprehensible behavior.

Then comes the American commitment to due process--the lengthy and tedious but critical business of judicially substantiating allegations in which innocence is presumed until guilt is proved. It is a drawn-out process that often pleases no one in the end, but it remains the best and fairest system of justice devised by man.

Let me say that I wish it all could have been completed long ago--on my watch. But that was not to be. I often felt the temptation to prod the independent investigators toward a conclusion, but I didn’t want to risk tainting the result with suspicions of political motivation. But now the investigation is completed, and it should be released immediately.

Before leaving office last month, I established two central convening authorities, one Navy and the other Marine Corps, to expeditiously handle disciplinary action. Aspin needn’t wait any longer. The naval service’s long nightmare should finally come to a close.

There are two groups of victims in the Tailhook scandal--the women who complained that they were molested, and the million men and women of the Department of the Navy who’d never even heard of Tailhook, but whose reputations were tarnished by the actions of a bunch of drunken aviators. For the sake of both these groups, we must move forward.

In the larger sense, the real lesson of Tailhook is the exposure of a cultural tolerance of sexual harassment that existed within the naval service. In the seemingly endless wait for a conclusion to Tailhook ‘91, the naval service has confronted sexual harassment head on, trying to eliminate gender bias and help forge a national consensus to expand the role of women in all of the uniformed services. At the end of the day, this painful experience will make the naval service stronger and significantly contribute to an important societal debate that has been avoided for years.

Tailhook ’91 has been an important, cathartic event that has forced us to confront sexual harassment and gender bias. Let’s get on with that important task. Release the report and let justice be done.