Defense Dept. Report Blasts Retired General’s Behavior

Maj. Gen. David Hale, the Pentagon’s former deputy inspector, “engaged in a pattern of inappropriate behavior,” including an alleged affair with the wife of an officer on his staff and “improper relationships” with three other wives of subordinate officers, an internal Defense Department investigation has concluded.

A report Monday by Inspector General Eleanor Hill said that Hale also “sanctioned the misuse of government funds” to pay for one of the women’s travel and that he had “made false and misleading statements” concerning his conduct.

A copy of the 49-page report, with the identities of the women involved and other witnesses blacked out by the Pentagon, was obtained by the Associated Press.

The Army announced last week that it was opening a criminal probe of the now-retired two-star general. The allegations involve a period from 1996 to 1997 while Hale was stationed in Turkey as the deputy commanding general for North Atlantic Treaty Organization land forces in southeastern Europe.

Hale has not been available for comment. The inspector general’s report, however, said Hale “strongly denied all the allegations of inappropriate conduct, while acknowledging a “relationship that he maintained with the former spouse of a subordinate Army officer who served with him in Hawaii.”

Army Lt. Col. Tom Begines, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday: “The Department of Defense has not officially released the report and no release date has been determined at this time.”

Hale’s case became public after the Washington Times reported this year that Donnamaria Carpino, the wife of an Army colonel, charged that Hale had “forced her into a four-month sexual relationship” in Izmir, Turkey, while her husband was posted there. She said Hale threatened to ruin her husband’s career if she didn’t comply.

However, the inspector general’s report concluded, “All testimony and documentation we obtained indicated that the sexual relationship was consensual.”

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Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who has been outspoken about allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of women in the military, said the report confirmed her “worst suspicions.”

“Not only have most of those charges been confirmed, but a pattern of similar behavior involving the wives of other subordinate officers has been established,” Maloney said in a written statement.

Hale asked to retire this year after serving only four months in the Army inspector general’s office. He was allowed to do so under honorable conditions.