Pentagon Will Examine Claim of Forced Sex : Workplace: IBM engineer says she was pressured in order to win contracts. Agency official denies any wrongdoing.
The Pentagon said Thursday that it has launched an investigation into allegations by IBM engineer Veronica Gunther that she was forced to have sex with the agency’s top defense conversion official, Gary Denman, so that IBM might win federal contracts.
“Such allegations are viewed as matters of grave concern,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Denman told reporters that he has done nothing improper--his first public comment on the allegations that surfaced last week in a lawsuit. Denman heads the Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as ARPA.
ARPA finances the development of new technologies and is responsible for choosing companies, universities and other researchers competing for defense conversion funds under the $2.5-billion Technology Reinvestment Program. The TRP is central to the Clinton Administration’s defense conversion effort.
In its statement, the Pentagon noted that Denman has stopped making decisions involving ARPA and International Business Machines Corp. or Rockwell International Corp.--also mentioned briefly in the suit--until the investigation is completed.
“The department will not tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace and currently has in place a policy prohibiting such conduct,” the agency said.
Gunther, an engineer and marketing representative in the Santa Monica office of IBM, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica.
IBM and two of Gunther’s former bosses were the three defendants named in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages. Denman, 54, was not named.
Gunther, 35, who said in the lawsuit that she has suffered severe depression, has been on medical leave since January.
Gunther alleged that her superiors threatened to fire her in 1991 and 1992 unless she had sex with Denman, in the hope that Denman would steer defense conversion funds to IBM, according to court records.
Gunther acknowledged having a personal relationship with Denman when they worked for the Air Force in Ohio before she joined IBM in 1988. Gunther alleged in her suit that after IBM learned of her past involvement with Denman, she was pressured to maintain the relationship for IBM’s benefit.
In a statement, Denman denied “that sexual favors were offered or given in exchange for ARPA contracts or any kind of preferential treatment of IBM. In addition, I deny that at any time did I denigrate Ms. Gunther’s professional conduct or personal integrity.”
Denman also said he was not aware of any contract awarded to IBM “with which Ms. Gunther has been associated, or any contracts given for programs that were ever discussed” with her.
In a briefing with reporters, Denman insisted that ARPA’s contract selection process has not been compromised.
