THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150584
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
The Pentagon apparently still has some explaining to do on Capitol Hill concerning the withdrawal last month of Adm. Stanley R. Arthur's nomination to command U.S. forces in the Pacific.
Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., said Thursday that he wants other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to meet informally to discuss the case. No date for any meeting has been set.
The transfer of Arthur, a veteran officer popular in Congress and among his military colleagues, was derailed after Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn., raised questions about Arthur's handling of a sexual harassment case.
``I'm continuing to gather facts, but I'm of the opinion that the officer corps in the Navy and the other services have a legitimate concern as to what happened,'' Warner said.
Arthur currently is vice chief of naval operations, the second-highest-ranking officer in the Navy. In that job, he was involved in reviewing the case of Lt. Rebecca Hansen, an aspiring helicopter pilot who the Navy agrees was a victim of sexual harassment in 1992.
Hansen alleges she was flunked out of pilot training in retaliation for her harassment complaint. But a Navy Inspector General's investigation found she failed because she didn't meet Navy standards; Arthur endorsed that conclusion.
At Warner's urging, Adm. Jeremy M. ``Mike'' Boorda, the Navy's top officer, this week sought to reassure senators that the Navy hadn't undercut Arthur by withdrawing his transfer to the Pacific. Boorda blamed Durenberger for the decision, saying the senator's move to hold up the nomination forced the Pentagon to try to avoid a vacancy in the critical Pacific post. by CNB