Sex Harassment Scandal Spreads to 2 More Bases

The Army’s sexual harassment scandal continued to expand across the nation Friday as officials at Ft. Jackson, S.C., disclosed two new misconduct investigations and female employees at Ft. Bliss, Texas, filed a suit charging the Army with sex discrimination.

Ft. Jackson officials also reported that the base had received reports of about 30 alleged incidents of sexual misconduct there over the last year, 27 of which have proved to have merit.

They offered no details about the two new cases. Officials of the Rape Crisis Network in Columbia, S.C., said they have been called to Ft. Jackson five times in 16 months to investigate charges of rape. They said three of the incidents involved drill sergeants.

The latest disclosures added to a growing number of incidents being reported at bases across the nation after the Army announced two weeks ago that it had charged a captain and five drill sergeants at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland with misconduct and in some cases rape of female recruits.

The service has been struggling to get a grip on the issue since the announcement. The Army also has brought charges against three drill sergeants at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., another training base.

*

The developments came as the Army formally launched a wide-ranging review of sexual misconduct in its ranks, including how effectively its senior chain of command has been carrying out its responsibility to crack down on and prevent sexual harassment.

In a series of actions, Army Secretary Togo West Jr. named a nine-member panel Friday to look into the problem and recommend ways to overcome deficiencies. The group, which is made up of active duty and retired officers and senior political appointees, will report in May.

At the same time, West ordered the Army’s inspector general to take over a service-wide investigation of training bases in the wake of the sexual misconduct that has come to light at Aberdeen and Ft. Leonard Wood.

West directed the nine-member panel to look into the performance of Army leaders “throughout the chain of command,” marking the first time the probe has been expanded specifically to involve senior generals as well as lower-ranking officials.

However, at a press conference, West dodged questions about whether senior commanders would be punished as a result of the latest revelations.

“I don’t think that the question is, ‘Should heads roll?’ ” he said. “The question is, ‘Can we determine whether there is any belief that the chain or some leaders either didn’t act when they should have or failed to know information they should have known.’ ”

The investigation of training bases, announced two weeks ago when the Aberdeen incidents surfaced, initially was to have been conducted by Maj. Gen. William W. Hartzog, head of the Army’s training and doctrine command, which oversees Aberdeen.

But West said Friday that upon further reflection, he had decided to shift the job to the inspector general, whose office is independent. The purpose was, in part, to ward off any suggestion that the results may have been influenced by the commanders involved.

Sexual harassment has been a long-standing problem in the military, particularly as policymakers have begun opening up more occupations to women. Although rape rates are lower in the military than in civilian life, milder forms of harassment are widespread.

West told reporters Friday that of about 5,000 telephone calls Army officials have received on a nationwide hotline set up to field sexual harassment complaints, about 600 cases have been referred for review to the Army’s criminal investigation division.

West also conceded for the first time that Army officials had been surprised by the extent of the problem. “We were leading ourselves to suspect . . . that we were a model. What we are learning . . . may well be that we were wrong.”

On Thursday, Pentagon officials disclosed that Defense Secretary William J. Perry had ordered all four armed services to standardize the ways they keep statistics on incidents of sexual misconduct so that the leadership can be better informed of the problem.

The commission that West named Friday will be headed by retired Maj. Gen. Richard S. Siegfried, former deputy inspector general of the Army, who will be brought back to active duty.

Also on the panel will be three active-duty major generals, one retired brigadier general, two active-duty sergeants-major and two civilian Pentagon officials. Four members are women.

Besides reviewing policies and practices, West said, the panel will look for ways to make recruits aware that the Army has a system for reporting incidents of sexual misconduct and is serious about enforcing its rules.

The commission is to make an interim report in March and issue final recommendations in May. Sara Lister, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, will oversee the review.

The appointment of an independent panel to investigate such issues has been used frequently. West named a similar group last year to look into possible racism in the service. It reported there was no evidence of a systemic problem.

Military officials say they regard the recent round of incidents as particularly disturbing because it has involved sexual misconduct by drill sergeants, who have been placed in a position of trust and have enormous power over recruits.

Military law prohibits even consensual “fraternization” between supervisors and subordinates, or between officers or senior enlisted personnel and persons who are of much higher or lower rank.

*

In El Paso, 13 current or former civilian employees at nearby Ft. Bliss sued the Army for $3.9 million, claiming they were unfairly passed over for promotions, were fondled and were subjected to crude sexual remarks, the Associated Press reported.

The federal class-action suit complained of years of harassment and discrimination by military and civilian officials. The women said that whenever they spoke up, they were subjected to retaliation.

Officials at Ft. Bliss declined comment, and the Army’s public affairs office did not immediately return calls. The lawsuit seeks $300,000 in damages for each plaintiff, along with promotions with back pay.

The post’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. John Costello, said last week that a captain and a sergeant at Ft. Bliss were court-martialed and given eight-month jail terms in the last two years for having sex with recruits.