Accused General Is Nominee for No. 2 Job

A two-star general accused of groping a female peer later is nominated for the Army’s No. 2 investigative post, defense officials acknowledged Thursday, raising questions about whether military leaders had dealt appropriately with the woman’s explosive allegations.

Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, was nominated to be the Army’s deputy inspector general on Aug. 27, even though Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy had complained three years earlier that Smith had touched her inappropriately during a brief encounter in her Pentagon office.

If Smith is given the inspector general post, he will oversee investigations of improper conduct, including sexual harassment. However, he is under investigation himself now and has been assigned to temporary duty at the Army Materiel Command in Alexandria, Va.

Kennedy, a military intelligence specialist and the Army’s highest-ranking woman, raised the issue with at least one superior in 1996, then went to her superiors again informally last fall in hopes of quietly convincing them that Smith was not suited for the investigative post, several officers said.

Though she hoped to avoid a full-scale investigation, her allegations set off a formal inquiry by the Army inspector general.

Some female Army officers said Smith’s nomination has raised concern that the Army leadership remains an “old boys’ club” in which well-liked male officers can rise in rank despite sexual misconduct allegations such as those raised by Kennedy.

“This is the old way, and I’d hate to find out that it’s the current way as well,” said one female Army officer who requested anonymity.

Others close to the investigation, however, said there is no evidence to suggest that the leadership deliberately ignored relevant allegations in proposing Smith for the investigative job. It is not clear how many senior Army officers were informed of Kennedy’s allegation and whether any of them were among those who proposed Smith for his new post.

Army and Defense Department officials continued to refuse comment on the case, citing privacy concerns. “We can’t comment on this at all,” said Col. Edwin Veiga, an Army spokesman.

Kennedy and Smith have also declined comment, spokesmen said.

The incident has rocked the Pentagon, which has struggled in recent years to lay to rest sexual misconduct allegations involving some of the military’s most senior officers and accomplished noncommissioned officers. Among other things, some officers said, they worry that, at a time of sluggish enlistments, the allegations may convince young people--and their parents--that the military is not a safe place to begin a career.

Smith, a far less visible general than Kennedy, is a “soft-spoken, courteous, almost courtly” officer, said Richard J. Dunn, a retired Army colonel who knew both officers. He said that both are highly credible and he considers “this whole thing . . . puzzling.”

The disclosure of Smith’s identity is particularly embarrassing because it is the second time in two years that an officer accused of sexual misconduct has been chosen to serve as deputy inspector general.

Maj. Gen. David R.E. Hale was already deputy inspector general when it was revealed in 1999 that he had had sexual relations with the wives of several subordinates. He was permitted to resign from the Army, then recalled to face charges, fined and reduced in rank.

Inspector general jobs have historically been reserved for officers with records above reproach, one officer noted.

Kennedy, who is single and plans to retire this summer after 31 years in the Army, notified at least one superior of her concerns near the time of the 1996 incident, officers said. But she did not seek an investigation or pursue the matter further because she believed she had dealt with it sufficiently.

At the time, Kennedy was the Army’s assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence. Her immediate superior was Lt. Gen. P.E. Menoher, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence, who reported to Lt. Gen. John Dubia, director of the Army staff. Dubia, in turn, reported to Gen. Ronald H. Griffith, the vice chief of staff whose duties included supervision of general officers. The three are now retired. None could be reached Thursday for comment.

Several Army officers said that, based on past practice, the superior contacted by Kennedy probably interviewed Smith to hear his side of the story. But the superior may not have passed word of the allegations further up the chain of command.

Army officials declined to discuss which leaders proposed Smith’s nomination, saying that such matters are “internal” and never disclosed publicly. One Army officer said that such selections tend to be cloaked in mystery, much like the selection of popes.

While Kennedy apparently had hoped she could quietly influence her superiors to move Smith into a different assignment, Army officials decided that a formal investigation was needed to ascertain the facts for the record, fellow officers said.

But several Army officers predicted that Smith may suffer as a result, no matter what the investigation concludes. If the Army finds little evidence beyond contradictory accounts of the encounter, it nonetheless will be difficult now to give Smith the IG job.

“He’s got to have credibility,” said one Army veteran.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Women’s Congressional Caucus, on Thursday called for a congressional investigation of the Army’s handing of the matter.

Smith, who joined the Army in 1966, was commander of the Army Security Assistance Command in Alexandria, Va., which oversees sales of older military hardware to U.S. allies, until October. Before that he managed the Army’s modernization program for the Saudi Arabian National Guard.