THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010303
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 45 lines
A Senate committee has decided to relax, but not eliminate, the special scrutiny it gives to the careers of naval aviators who attended the infamous 1991 Tailhook Association convention in Las Vegas.
In a letter released Monday, the Senate Armed Services Committee said the Navy must continue to highlight for its review the initial nominations for promotion of officers who were ``potentially implicated'' in misconduct at the convention.
But the panel said that once it and the Senate have approved those officers for one post-Tailhook promotion, there will be no extra scrutiny when they're recommended for subsequent moves up in the ranks. The ``Tailhook Certification'' had been required before each promotion of officers at the convention.
The committee's actions came in mid-September as it and the Senate agreed to promote 16 officers who attended the convention, at which Navy and civilian women were harassed and in some cases sexually assaulted by drunken fliers.
The extra review has held up dozens of other careers in the five years since Tailhook, though the committee has rejected the promotions of only eight officers because of their involvement in Tailhook.
The committee also directed the Navy to provide candidates for promotion whose records require Tailhook Certification with ``all information held by the (Navy) relating to their activities during Tailhook '91.''
The committee said once those subject to the certification process receive the results of Navy investigations of their conduct, they'll be permitted to give the committee any additional information they desire.
Among those who've repeatedly had to answer the committee's questions about their activities at the convention is the new chief of naval operations, Adm. Jay Johnson. He was never accused of any misconduct but in a confirmation hearing in July acknowledged being part of a ``failure of leadership'' that tolerated hostility toward women.
The committee's special scrutiny of Tailhook attendees is a longtime favorite target of criticism for military retirees and conservative activists.
Through 1995 and the first half of this year, they used the case of Cmdr. Robert Stumpf, a Virginia Beach-based flier whose promotion to captain was derailed by his Tailhook attendance, to lobby for elimination of the certification requirement. After a long, public fight with the committee, Stumpf decided this summer to retire. by CNB