Navy poised to promote powerful admiral who illegally punished suspected whistleblowers

The Navy is poised to promote the admiral in charge of its elite SEAL teams and other commando units even though Pentagon investigators determined that he illegally retaliated against staff members whom he mistakenly suspected were whistleblowers.

Rear Adm. Brian Losey was investigated five times by the Defense Department's inspector general after subordinates complained that he had wrongly fired, demoted or punished them during a fruitless hunt for the person who had anonymously reported him for a minor travel-policy infraction, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

After conducting yearslong investigations that involved more than 100 witnesses and 300,000 pages of emails, the inspector general upheld complaints from three of the five staff members. In each of those cases, it recommended that the Navy take action against Losey for violating whistleblower-protection laws, the documents show.

The Navy, however, dismissed the findings this month and decided not to discipline Losey, a preeminent figure in the military's special operations forces. Between 2005 and 2007, Losey was commander of Naval Special Warfare Development Group - the Virginia Beach-based unit known as SEAL Team 6 that has killed terrorist targets such as Osama bin Laden. Losey now leads the Naval Special Warfare Command and has served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Panama, Bosnia, Somalia and other conflict zones.

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http://hamptonroads.com/2015/10/navy-poised-promote-powerful-admiral-who-illegally-punished-suspected-whistleblowers