
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994                   TAG: 9402160140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

TAILHOOK CLAIMS TOP CASUALTY CHIEF OF NAVY TO RETIRE: `THE ISSUE WON'T GO

In the end, none of the dozens of officers accused in the debauchery that became known simply as Tailhook ever faced trial. Instead, the sex scandal cut short the careers of top Navy brass and the female officer who blew the whistle.

Now, one of the Navy's most embarrassing chapters has claimed as a casualty - perhaps its final one - Adm. Frank Kelso II, its highest-ranking officer.

"This issue . . . won't go away. The lightning keeps striking all the time, so I think it's best for the Navy to give it another leader," the four-star admiral said. Kelso's announcement early Tuesday that he would retire April 30 came shortly after Defense Secretary William Perry and Navy Secretary John Dalton issued testimonials to his integrity.

Kelso said neither Perry nor Dalton asked him to step down.

The three-day September 1991 Las Vegas gathering was billed as a symposium on naval aviation issues, and leaders including Kelso gave speeches. At night, though, in third-floor hallways, dozens of women were pushed through a "gantlet" of drunken, groping aviators.

An April 1993 Defense Department report said: "Many attendees viewed the annual conference as a type of `free fire zone' wherein they could act indiscriminately and without fear of censure or retribution in matters of sexual conduct and drunkenness."

Three months after the event, the Navy permanently relieved Rear Adm. Jack Snyder of his command for failing to respond appropriately to sex-abuse complaints. Two other admirals lost their jobs for not investigating aggressively.

Under Kelso's direction, the Navy strengthened penalties for sexual misconduct and ordered wider anti-harassment training.

But the scandal gained momentum when rumors arose that Lawrence Garrett III, the Navy secretary, had been present when some Kelso Tailhook misconduct took place. Garrett denied it, but on June 26, 1992, he resigned and accepted responsibility for "leadership failure" that let the scandal occur.

The woman who took the Tailhook charges public - Lt. Paula Coughlin, a Navy helicopter pilot - said this month she was resigning from the service. She said "covert attacks" on her for publicizing the scandal "stripped me of my ability to serve."

Charges against the Marine captain she had accused of harassing her were dropped last year after prosecutors concluded she had identified the wrong man.

In all, 35 admirals came under scrutiny for Tailhook. Two were cleared, and 30 got "non-punitive" administrative slaps on the wrist. One of the 30 was Kelso; others were never identified. Dalton recommended Kelso be fired, but then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin kept him on.

Last week, a Navy judge dismissed the last three court-martial cases. The Navy says 28 officers have received administrative penalties, in addition to the actions against the 33 admirals.

by CNB