Tailhook Woes Force Kelso to Quit Navy Early

Saying he no longer wanted to be a “lightning rod” for the Tailhook scandal, Chief of Naval Operations Frank B. Kelso II abruptly announced his early retirement Tuesday as the nation’s top uniformed Navy officer.

Adm. Kelso, newly accused of witnessing lewd behavior at the 1991 Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas and of lying about his knowledge of the misconduct, said he moved up his departure only after his Pentagon superiors agreed to issue formal statements attesting to his honesty and integrity.

Kelso, who began his career as a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman more than four decades ago, had planned to retire in June.

But his announcement Tuesday was the culmination of a chain of events that began last week when a Navy judge in Norfolk, Va., ruled that Kelso had covered up his knowledge of the Tailhook debauchery. Over the weekend he struck the agreement with top Pentagon officials that led to the announcement.

Two and a half years after the Tailhook incident, not one Navy or Marine Corps member has been ordered to a court-martial, even though the Defense Department’s inspector general identified at least 90 victims of indecent assault and referred 140 Navy and Marine Corps officers for criminal investigation. At least nine of the 20 Marines under suspicion had been stationed at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The Marine-related charges stemmed from activities in the infamous “Rhino Room,” a hospitality suite at the Hilton Hotel hosted by former members of an El Toro reconnaissance squadron.

Pentagon investigators alleged that some Marines forced or tried to force five women to drink an alcoholic concoction from a penis-shaped dispenser attached to a 5-by-8-foot mural of a bull rhinoceros.

In the most celebrated Marine case, assault charges were dismissed for lack of evidence against Capt. Gregory J. Bonam, a fighter pilot who was accused of groping Lt. Paula A. Coughlin, whose complaints initiated the Tailhook investigation.

“I’ve clearly become the lightning rod for Tailhook,” said Kelso, 60. “I’m the senior naval officer that attended Tailhook or had anything to do with it. So when the issue of Tailhook comes up, it strikes me. It won’t go away. The lightning keeps striking all the time. So I think it’s best for the Navy to get a new leader.”

Kelso fixed his departure date at April 30, but Pentagon sources said they expect his successor will be nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate before then.

The sources added that the strongest candidate to be the new Navy chief of operations is Adm. Jeremy Michael Boorda, NATO’s southern region commander who would oversee any air strikes in Bosnia.

Another strong candidate is Adm. Charles Larson, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet.

Even though Kelso said he hoped his early retirement would “put an end to Tailhook,” it appears likely that his successor also will be confronted with the issue.

The chief whistle-blower on Tailhook, Lt. Paula A. Coughlin, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Tailhook Assn. and the Hilton hotel and casino, where the convention was held. The case is scheduled for trial in Las Vegas next month. It will represent the only public adjudication of the Tailhook scandal, in which dozens of women have said they were assaulted by drunken Navy and Marine airmen.

But Kelso maintained that under his leadership, the Navy has made significant improvements in opening up more job opportunities for women and in altering the male-dominated culture that has resulted in allegations of harassment.

“The great lesson learned from Tailhook is that we have to be more attentive to our house so we can prevent something like Tailhook from happening,” he said. “We need to work harder to be able to understand the changes that are taking place around us.

“A problem like this is a social problem that has lasted a long time,” he added. “I think we’ve stepped up to address the problems that caused Tailhook. . . . We put into place the training. We put into place procedures to make it clear to people that if they act that way, they’re not going to be in this man’s Navy.”

A year ago, the inspector general found that although Kelso attended the Tailhook convention, he had not been aware of the incidents taking place in a hotel hallway. According to the report, women were groped and manhandled, some women were stripped of their clothing, and others were assaulted.

But last week, Capt. William Vest, a Navy judge in Norfolk, dismissed the last three pending Navy cases, ruling that Kelso should not have referred the cases for criminal adjudication because he had failed to report some of the incidents.

Vest further ruled that Kelso “manipulated” the investigative and disciplinary process in the scandal “in a manner designed to shield his personal involvement in Tailhook ’91.”

Kelso attempted to blunt Vest’s conclusions by releasing documents from the inspector general’s office reiterating its conclusion that Kelso had not seen the activity.

“I categorically deny the findings about my honesty and integrity,” he said of Vest’s ruling. “He had to do his job and he did his job. But what I’ve said is I don’t agree with his conclusions about me.”

Over the weekend and on Monday, Kelso met at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Navy Secretary John H. Dalton. They discussed several alternatives Kelso could pursue to defend himself in light of Vest’s ruling.

Among those options, sources said, would have been for Kelso to plead his case before a military Court of Inquiry. But the sources said Kelso chose not to pursue that course because it would involve a formal, public hearing that would bring more negative attention to the Navy.