ameriken
11-04-14, 09:23 AM
Hagel: Amos will retire as a 4-star, service record included data entry error
http://cmsimg.marinecorpstimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=M6&Date=20141104&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=311040040&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Hagel-Amos-will-retire-4-star-service-record-included-data-entry-error
The Secretary of Defense has responded to allegations that former Marine Corps commandant Gen. Jim Amos misrepresented his service record, saying his critics’ claims that he did not attend The Basic School as a young officer were “not ... credible.”
At issue is the 2010 career service record provided to Congress during a hearing on his confirmation as commandant that showed Amos graduated from the Corps’ officer training course in 1972, having transferred from the Navy. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. requested a response from the Marine Corps and officials initially said Amos had not completed TBS, but later clarified to say that he had completed the course via correspondence in 1977. Critics, including Jones, have alleged that Amos should not be allowed to retire as a four-star general because of the alleged misrepresentation. Amos’ retirement will be final later this month.
Hagel asked Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to review Amos’ record. In an Oct. 15 letter containing 32 pages of enclosures, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Jones that the Pentagon’s inspector general had reviewed claims about Amos’ completion of TBS and found that they did not amount to a credible allegation of misconduct. The resume provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2010 was prepared by the Marine Corps Manpower Management Senior Leadership Office, not by Amos’ staff, Hagel said, and the apparent inconsistency was a “data entry error.”
Hagel also responded to two other letters Jones sent alleging Amos exercised unlawful command influence in two separate and highly publicized instances. In one, Amos was accused by a defense attorney of tampering with military justice in the prosecution of scout snipers accused of urinating on enemy corpses. The other involved a set of 2012 “Heritage Brief” lectures in which Amos on at least one occasion told assembled Marines that 80 percent of sexual assault accusations stemmed from legitimate offenses. Marine defense attorneys have since alleged unlawful command influence by Amos in nearly every sexual assault case that goes to trial.
Hagel said the Defense Department IG had cleared Amos of wrongdoing in the scout sniper cases. In the case of the Heritage brief lectures, Hagel pointed to a ruling by the Navy-Marine Corps Courts of Criminal Appeals in the sexual assault trial of a former Marine drill instructor in which the majority held that the brief did not create unlawful command influence.
While that is accurate, the court also established that an objective observer would significantly doubt the fairness of the case, as multiple jury members acknowledged they had been influenced by Amos’ brief and the statistic he cited. Ultimately, the drill instructor’sconviction and 18-year sentence were thrown out so the case could be reheard.
“In summary, the Inspector General has reviewed the senior official database and located no record of substantiated adverse information attributed to [Amos],” Hagel wrote. “Accordingly, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness certified that his service as a general warrants retirement in that grade.”
In a strongly worded response to Hagel’s letter Oct. 28, Jones expressed “shock” at the Defense secretary’s position, saying he found the explanation of a data-entry error “too coincidental” to excuse information that Amos swore to under oath.
Jones demanded in the Oct. 28 letter that Hagel provide actual documentation citing Amos’ completion of TBS, and the names of the officials who completed his confirmation biography in 2010. His office has yet to receive a response.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20141104/NEWS/311040040/Hagel-Amos-will-retire-4-star-service-record-included-data-entry-error?sf33320167=1
http://cmsimg.marinecorpstimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=M6&Date=20141104&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=311040040&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Hagel-Amos-will-retire-4-star-service-record-included-data-entry-error
The Secretary of Defense has responded to allegations that former Marine Corps commandant Gen. Jim Amos misrepresented his service record, saying his critics’ claims that he did not attend The Basic School as a young officer were “not ... credible.”
At issue is the 2010 career service record provided to Congress during a hearing on his confirmation as commandant that showed Amos graduated from the Corps’ officer training course in 1972, having transferred from the Navy. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. requested a response from the Marine Corps and officials initially said Amos had not completed TBS, but later clarified to say that he had completed the course via correspondence in 1977. Critics, including Jones, have alleged that Amos should not be allowed to retire as a four-star general because of the alleged misrepresentation. Amos’ retirement will be final later this month.
Hagel asked Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to review Amos’ record. In an Oct. 15 letter containing 32 pages of enclosures, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Jones that the Pentagon’s inspector general had reviewed claims about Amos’ completion of TBS and found that they did not amount to a credible allegation of misconduct. The resume provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2010 was prepared by the Marine Corps Manpower Management Senior Leadership Office, not by Amos’ staff, Hagel said, and the apparent inconsistency was a “data entry error.”
Hagel also responded to two other letters Jones sent alleging Amos exercised unlawful command influence in two separate and highly publicized instances. In one, Amos was accused by a defense attorney of tampering with military justice in the prosecution of scout snipers accused of urinating on enemy corpses. The other involved a set of 2012 “Heritage Brief” lectures in which Amos on at least one occasion told assembled Marines that 80 percent of sexual assault accusations stemmed from legitimate offenses. Marine defense attorneys have since alleged unlawful command influence by Amos in nearly every sexual assault case that goes to trial.
Hagel said the Defense Department IG had cleared Amos of wrongdoing in the scout sniper cases. In the case of the Heritage brief lectures, Hagel pointed to a ruling by the Navy-Marine Corps Courts of Criminal Appeals in the sexual assault trial of a former Marine drill instructor in which the majority held that the brief did not create unlawful command influence.
While that is accurate, the court also established that an objective observer would significantly doubt the fairness of the case, as multiple jury members acknowledged they had been influenced by Amos’ brief and the statistic he cited. Ultimately, the drill instructor’sconviction and 18-year sentence were thrown out so the case could be reheard.
“In summary, the Inspector General has reviewed the senior official database and located no record of substantiated adverse information attributed to [Amos],” Hagel wrote. “Accordingly, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness certified that his service as a general warrants retirement in that grade.”
In a strongly worded response to Hagel’s letter Oct. 28, Jones expressed “shock” at the Defense secretary’s position, saying he found the explanation of a data-entry error “too coincidental” to excuse information that Amos swore to under oath.
Jones demanded in the Oct. 28 letter that Hagel provide actual documentation citing Amos’ completion of TBS, and the names of the officials who completed his confirmation biography in 2010. His office has yet to receive a response.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20141104/NEWS/311040040/Hagel-Amos-will-retire-4-star-service-record-included-data-entry-error?sf33320167=1