[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          THE TAILHOOK SCANDAL

  (Mr. MEEHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, the Navy needs to take a long, hard look at 
the Tailhook incident and the investigation that followed. The failure 
to find the truth about what happened is almost as embarrassing as the 
allegations themselves, because dozens of officers commissioned in the 
Armed Forces of the United States chose to close ranks and protect 
themselves and their friends rather than to do what was right, and tell 
the truth. And while the senior leaders of the Navy rush to defend 
Frank Kelso, they seem to have forgotten about Paula Coughlin, who has 
no admiral's pension to help pick up the pieces of her ruined career. 
She showed tremendous courage in coming forward, and we should remember 
the real victims of Tailhook.
  The Tailhook scandal and subsequent investigation are symptoms of 
serious problems that demand sustained attention from the service's 
senior leaders. I intend to keep after the Navy on this issue when the 
Armed Services Committee holds hearings in early March. The Navy has an 
obligation to the Nation and to itself to confront both sexual 
harassment and the absence of accountability that allowed the Tailhook 
scandal to occur and the guilty to go unpunished. Admiral Kelso's early 
retirement is the first step in putting Tailhook behind us, not the 
last.

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