No Punishment Recommended in Sex Assault Scandal

Rocky Mountain News

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer

The acting secretary of the Air Force has recommended not disciplining military officials who a recent report said were responsible for the sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy.

Congressional offices and victims rights advocates expressed outrage and disappointment late Friday after a memo from Acting Secretary of the Air Force Peter B. Teets was forwarded to lawmakers while most were away on holiday recess.

“If the Air Force’s hope was to send this out on an Easter weekend in hopes of making this go away, I think they erred very badly,” said Sean Conway, chief of staff to Sen. Wayne Allard, a Loveland Republican.

Allard has led congressional investigations into allegations by dozens of present and former female cadets that sexual assault cases were ignored or mishandled at the academy in Colorado Springs.

“Sen. Allard has said from day one that at the end of the day there had to be accountability here,” Conway said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this.”

In a memo making recommendations to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Teets referred to academy and Air Force officials who had been singled out for harsh criticism in reports by the Department of Defense inspector general’s office and a separate panel known as the Fowler Commission.

Teets wrote that retired officers who faced criticism in the reports “acted in good faith” in trying to address the sexual assault issues at the academy and “were not intentionally or willfully derelict in their duties.”

“Moreover, any mistakes or misjudgments some of them may have made are mitigated by the complexity of the issues they faced, the necessity of policy trade-offs and compromises, and the difficulty of measuring program effectiveness,” Teets wrote.

Teets’ memo did not name any officials but referred to the earlier reports.

Late last year, the inspector general’s report singled out past superintendents Lt. Gen. Bradley Hosmer, Lt. Gen. Tad Oelstrom and Maj. Gen. John D. Dallager, and former Air Force Inspectors General Lt. Gen. Richard T. Swope, Lt. Gen. Nicholas B. Kehoe and Lt. Gen. Raymond Huot, all of whom are retired; former Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Charles H. Roadman II; and an eighth official whose name was redacted from documents.

An earlier panel chaired by former U.S. Rep. Tillie Fowler blamed the former commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Silvanes Taco Gilbert; the former 34th Training Group commander, Col. Laurie S. Slavec; and the former dean of faculty, Brig. Gen. David A. Wagie, for contributing to the problems.

Before her death earlier this year, Fowler defended Hosmer and blasted the inspector general’s report for holding Gilbert, Slavec and Wagie “nonresponsible.”

In his memo, Teets recommended that Rumsfeld not punish any of the former officials.

“The record of missed warning signs is disturbing, but these officers acted in good faith to discharge their responsibilities to act in the cadet’s best interests by taking bold steps to deter sexual assaults and implement effective reporting procedures,” Teets wrote. “Given their uniformly excellent and long service to the Air Force and their country, I have determined that taking the highly unusual step of imposing disciplinary or administrative action against these retired members under these circumstances is not warranted.”

That assessment angered U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who has pushed for stronger investigations into sexual assault charges throughout the military.

“Dismayed won’t cover it. Aggravated won’t cover it. I’m furious,” Slaughter said.

Based on the inspector general and Fowler reports, Slaughter said, “I expected people to be demoted or dismissed.”

Slaughter said additional congressional hearings are likely.

Kate Summers, director of services for the victims rights group Miles Foundation, said she was disappointed by the memo.

“Regrettably, the acting secretary has confirmed that there is no intent to hold leadership or the corps responsible,” Summers said.

“It’s a continuation of the failure to assign any accountability,” Summers said. “And that’s regrettable because I think the cadets who’ve faced victimization by sexual assault at the academy, that’s the one thing they’ve consistently asked for.”