one story, Dunleavy received a copy ofrnthe Coughlin complaint and simply filedrnit; according to another, he bucked it uprnto the Vice Chief of Naval Operations,rnAdmiral Stanley Arthur. Whateverrnthe truth, Ms. Pope went into hystericsrnwhen the Judge Advocate Generalrn(JAG) of the Navy informed her that therninvestigations would have to proceed inrnaccordance with the Uniform Code ofrnMilitary Justice (UCMJ) and all constitutionalrnrights. Failure to provide suchrnprotections would likely mean failure byrncourts-martial to convict or reversal ofrnany convictions on appeal. The yearrn1992, however, was an election year, andrnMs. Pope’s threatened resignation ifrnthe investigations were not vigorouslyrnpressed appears to have concentrated therncollective mind of the civilian chiefs ofrnthe defense establishment on shortcircuitingrnthe established procedures. Inrnthe words of the then-commander of thernNaval Investigative Service, “Perceptionsrnwere [considered to be] more importantrnthan the truth or the protection of individualrnrights.”rnThe Judge Advocate General (JAG),rnRear Admiral John E. Gordon, hadrnsimilar experiences with the DODIGrninvestigators. It is interesting to noternthat while Admiral Gordon retired onrnschedule in November 1992, the ActingrnSecretary of the Navy, Sean O’Keefe,rnimplied in a speech that he had beenrnfired. The dissembling of the civilianrnDOD leadership and investigative servicernwas on a par with or perhaps evenrnworse than that of the male and femalernattendees at Tailhook ’91. The sole civilianrnleader who came out untarnishedrnwas the Secretary of the Navy at the timernof Tailhook, Lawrence Garrett, who resignedrnin June 1992 rather than participaternin injustice.rnIn order to build a case, the DODIGrninvestigators had to interview as many ofrnthe attendees as they could find. Thernwomen who had been “assaulted” werernthe obvious prime candidates. Ms. BethrnRudd of San Diego was one of the civilianrn”victims.” In a lengthy letter to thernPresident, the service chiefs, the Chairmanrnof the Joint Chiefs of Staff, andrnRepresentative Patricia Schroeder, shernvociferously denied being assaulted orrnobserving the kinds of behavior that werernthe subject of the investigation. Yet shernwas classed as a victim! The investigatorsrneven went so far as to pursue one ofrnthe civilian women, a Canadian citizen,rninto Canada. They came away emptyhanded,rnsince she did not considerrnherself a victim and declined to cooperate.rnTestimony under cross-examinationrn(available from me upon request) of onernof the investigators revealed in sharp reliefrnthe government’s assault on logic inrnorder to maximize the number of “victims.”rnDODIG would decide who was arn”victim,” regardless of the “victim’s”rnopinion, reminiscent of the mayor ofrnVienna’s famous statement, “I willrndecide who is a Jew!” The followingrnquestion by the defense counsel andrnreply by the government investigatorrnaptly summarize the arrogance of thernDODIG approach:rnQ: Why didn’t you put in thernstatement that she didn’t considerrnherself to be a victim?rnA: No answer for that either, otherrnthan the fact that basically itrnwasn’t relevant for her to decidernthat, it wasn’t relevant for me torndecide that. That’s why we’rernhere and that’s the way I viewed itrnat the time was, essentially, it’srnnot up to men to make a determinationrnwhether or not someonernelse has been assaulted.rnA young woman, a lieutenant andrn1990 Naval Academy graduate, whornlodged an assault complaint againstrnLieutenant Cole Cowden went by thernnickname of “Bellyshot Beth.” The termrn”bellyshot” refers to lapping up a drinkrnfrom the navel of another party. On directrnexamination by the governmentrncounsel, she admitted to having had consensualrnsex with Cowden but continuedrnto assert that she had been assaulted.rnThe cross-examination went less well forrnher, however. She admitted that shernhad lied to the investigators about herrnquite enthusiastic participation in thernTailhook partying. When queried as tornwhy she had brought charges that couldrnnot be supported, she replied that shernsimply wanted to protect herself and herrnfamily from scandal. She was at the timernengaged to be married. Charges againstrnCowden were eventually dropped forrnlack of evidence. “Bellyshot Beth” wasrnnot charged with misleading the investigatorsrnor with perjury, and she has presumablyrnresumed her naval career.rnThe DODIG was ultimately able tornbring charges against two officers, CommanderrnGregory Tritt and LieutenantrnRolando “Ghandi” Diaz, the latter forrndisobeying orders by shaving a womanrnabove an allowed spot on the thigh! Thernrest of the effort expended on Tailhookrnhas been wasted. Indeed, it is far fromrncertain that (barring command intervention)rnTritt and Diaz will be convicted.rnBased on the testimony, the officialrnreport, and newspaper articles, one inescapablernimpression is of a giant witchhuntrnat taxpayers’ expense.rnThe investigations were eventuallyrnturned over to senior officers. Vice AdmiralrnJ. Paul Reason for the Navy andrnLieutenant General Charles Krulak forrnthe Marine Corps. Krulak, a hero of thernPersian Gulf War, rapidly cleared hisrndesk, recommending that no charges bernbrought. Reason has not been so expeditious.rnHe insisted on several occasionsrnthat even if insufficient evidence forrnconviction existed, nonappealable lettersrnof censure should be issued. Whilernseveral such letters were issued, othersrnwere rejected by Admiral Arthur, somernafter more than one submission. Reasonrnis persistent. The current Secretary ofrnthe Navy, John Dalton, has handledrnthe flag officers himself. At one pointrnhe told the press that he was spendingrnhalf his time on “Tailhook,” as if thatrnwere the most important defense issuernfacing the nation. The career of RearrnAdmiral Riley Mixson, a promising navalrnaviator and, at the time of Tailhook,rnDunleavy’s assistant, seems to have beenrndestroyed merely because he was Dunleavy’srnassistant and because he attendedrnthe Tailhook proceedings. Standing inrnthe background of all these proceedingsrnwas the eminence grise of the HousernArmed Services Committee, CongresswomanrnPat Schroeder; though she publiclyrnsaid almost nothing about Tailhook,rnthe principals all felt her presence. Suchrnestablishment of “guilt by association”rnis reminiscent of the days of SenatorrnJoseph McCarthy.rnSeveral conclusions may be drawnrnfrom the Tailhook incident. A longstandingrnbreakdown in top-level leadershiprnin the naval aviation communityrnwas a major contributing factor to thernunseemly activities. Indeed, I have seenrnat close range the inability or unwillingnessrnof aviation admirals to control theirrnjunior officers. With very few exceptions,rnthe flag officers seem to have implicitlyrnencouraged the attitude thatrn”boys will be boys.” The “sexual revolution”rnof the 1960’s and the general permissivenessrnthat now dominates Americanrnsociety also contributed to Tailhook.rnEven an authoritative system like thern)ULY 1994/45rnrnrn