Top Brass, Tailhook Probers Visit Miramar

The Navy’s top admiral sailed through the Miramar Naval Air Station Monday on a one-day mission to lift morale out of the Tailhook quagmire. On his heels were Pentagon investigators who made a second pass over the base in their probe of the sex scandal that has crippled the Navy.

Officially, Adm. Frank Kelso, chief of naval operations, met with officers and enlisted personnel to talk about training and “listen to the troops.” However, some aviators said Kelso’s visit was prompted by concern over plummeting morale at the Top Gun base because of the backlash from the Tailhook sex scandal.

Hundreds of Navy and Marine aviators have been questioned in two investigations of possible criminal wrongdoing at the 1991 Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas. More than 25 women said they were sexually harassed or assaulted there.

Tailhook officials and some aviators complained that only a handful of officers were guilty of wrongdoing at the convention but that anyone who attended is suspected of misconduct.

Last week, Kelso’s spokeswoman said she hoped that Kelso’s visit would lift morale at Miramar. But reaction from aviators at Miramar was mixed.

Some aviators who attended the meetings said they were encouraged by Kelso’s visit. He met with junior officers at a base auditorium without squadron commanding and executive officers present. One officer said that Kelso appeared to be genuinely concerned about the morale problem.

Acting Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe is expected to visit Miramar on Thursday in another attempt to lift morale. He is scheduled to meet with high-ranking officers.

In one meeting Monday, Kelso was subjected to tough questions from female officers, said a source who attended the meeting. The source said several female officers wanted to know when the Navy is going to put an end to the mandatory sexual harassment awareness training.

“One female officer made the point for a lot of us. She pointed out that it seems like we’re doing more of this sexual harassment training than operational training,” the officer said.

Kelso also faced tough questions about the aftereffects of the Tailhook sex scandal.

“People wanted to know when all of this is going to end. When can you press on with your career without having a black mark on your record just because you were at Tailhook,” said a source.

Kelso met with different groups of officers in sessions that lasted about an hour. Aviators who attended separate sessions came away with different opinions. One officer complained that Kelso, a submariner, is unfamiliar with the needs of the aviation community.

The officer said Kelso came across as indifferent to the base’s morale problem. He described Kelso as “a five-knot mind in a 500-knot Navy.”

Several sources also said that Kelso told aviators they should give up their membership in the Tailhook Assn. The group, composed mostly of active duty and retired Navy aviators, was formed to promote carrier aviation.

Kelso’s one-day visit to Miramar coincided with the beginning of the second phase of the Department of Defense investigation of the Tailhook sex scandal. The Pentagon launched an investigation in June after congressional critics complained that the Naval Investigative Service botched its investigation.

Although the Navy investigation concluded that some officers were guilty of criminal wrongdoing at the Tailhook convention, nobody was charged or arrested.

Sources familiar with the second phase of the Defense Department investigation said between eight and 10 investigators will question aviators from three squadrons who were at sea during the first interrogations in July at Miramar.

In addition, a Navy official said at least 13 officers who were interrogated in July have been notified that they will be required to undergo a second interrogation.

New details about the previous interrogation have been emerging. According to sources close to the Defense Department investigation, officers who were interrogated were read their rights and told that they were suspected of conduct unbecoming an officer and sexual misconduct, even if it was clear that they had nothing to do with the harassment or assaults.

Pentagon investigators interrogated about 300 aviators at Miramar in July, but only one-third asked for a lawyer to be present during the interrogation. Now, almost all of the officers who have been told they will be interrogated a second time have asked for legal counsel.

A Navy source familiar with the first round of interrogations said some officers were intimidated into being photographed by investigators, so the photos could be shown to victims of the sexual harassment and assaults at the Tailhook convention. The source said the officers were told that they would be listed as uncooperative if they refused to have their photographs taken.

In one case, a high-ranking aviator was required to pose for mug shots while his subordinates watched, said a Navy source.

Another source familiar with the investigation said female investigators who were former FBI agents interrogated officers’ wives. At least one wife reportedly asked for a copy of her interview but was refused.

“She was told that she could not get a copy of the interview until the investigation was over, and then she would have to request it through the Freedom of Information Act,” said the source.

Pentagon officials said that only five wives were interrogated. A local Navy source familiar with the probe said the wives, who attended the Tailhook convention with their husbands, agreed to talk with investigators because they did not want to harm their husbands’ careers.

Pentagon officials said the wives were considered witnesses and so were never read their rights, even though their comments could have been used to prosecute their husbands. A local Navy source said some wives were never advised that they had the right not to talk to the investigators.

At least one woman was advised at the end of her interrogation that she had the right not to talk to the two women who had just finished questioning her, said the source.