Military misconduct cases worry Pentagon brass

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Military misconduct cases worry Pentagon brass
Posted: Thursday, October 24, 2013 4:30 am
By David S. Cloud / Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A flood of misconduct cases involving generals and admirals has created deep concern at the Pentagon about ethical and moral shortcomings among senior military officers and prompted new steps to tighten rules, increase inspections and weed out offenders, officials said.

The most recent cases — a Navy admiral under investigation for using counterfeit gambling chips and an Air Force general in charge of nuclear-tipped missiles relieved for drunkenness off duty — follow a long list of officer wrongdoings over the last year. The offenses include ethical lapses and allegations of criminal violations, including sexual assault.

Senior officers who have examined the problem said no evidence suggests widespread misconduct among the nearly 1,000 generals and admirals in the armed forces. The number of cases in which allegations of misconduct are substantiated remains low and offenders are punished when identified, they said.

“We do not have an epidemic of flag-officer misconduct in the United States Navy,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy’s top spokesman, said in comments echoed by senior officers in other services.