[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 40 (Thursday, April 14, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          TWO STARS ARE PLENTY

                                 ______


                        HON. PATRICIA SCHROEDER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 1994

  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, the New York Times has it right. Admiral 
Kelso was the captain of the ship and two stars are enough. I hope the 
Senate agrees.

                [From the New York Times, Apr. 14, 1994]

                          Two Stars Are Plenty

       Navy Secretary John H. Dalton had it right the first time. 
     Last year he urged the removal of Adm. Frank B. Kelso 2d as 
     Chief of Naval Operations for failing to show proper 
     leadership during Tailhook '91--the infamous reunion of 
     aviators featuring a gantlet of drunken gropers that female 
     guests, among them 15 officers, were forced to run. This 
     week, however, Mr. Dalton joined Defense Secretary William 
     Perry and Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint 
     Chiefs of Staff, in asking that the Senate retire Admiral 
     Kelso at his four-star rank.
       Two stars, which rank the admiral will automatically revert 
     to unless the Senate says otherwise, are enough.
       Admiral Kelso agreed to step down early in exchange for a 
     tribute that would clear his name. Mr. Perry gave him that 
     tribute two months ago, and America got a good look at the 
     Navy at its brassiest. Now Secretaries Dalton and Perry and 
     General Shalikashvili are polishing that brass to an 
     inappropriately higher shine. The general at least conceded 
     that his support was ``likely to fuel charges that we in the 
     services are operating an old boy network by trying to shield 
     Admiral Kelso from blame.'' Likely? How about ``certain''?
       There is much illustrious about Admiral Kelso's career. As 
     head of the Sixth Fleet, he commanded Navy forces that helped 
     seize the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the killing 
     of an American aboard the cruise ship Achille Lauro. He was 
     also in charge of air strikes against Libya in 1986; and he 
     has been conspicuously progressive in his attitude toward 
     women's role in the Navy. True, his initiatives may have been 
     designed partly to sweeten the aroma arising from Tailhook. 
     Yet his concern with giving military women a fair chance was 
     commendable and rare.
       Even so, allowing Admiral Kelso to keep four stars, and the 
     pension that goes with them, would require the Senate to 
     dismiss--as his three advocates have done--the findings of 
     the Navy's own judge, Capt. William T. Vest Jr. Captain Vest 
     concluded that the admiral had lied about his own activities 
     at Tailhook '91, and then used his rank to impede the 
     investigations.
       And if the captain's 111-page report is the last word on 
     the subject, it is because Admiral Kelso's retirement ends 
     any review of his conduct, and because Mr. Perry's coerced 
     tribute curtailed the formation of a special court of 
     inquiry.
       In claiming that he had always supported retiring Admiral 
     Kelso with four stars, Secretary Dalton is willfully 
     overlooking one of the armed services' first principles: 
     Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was less myopic: ``[Admiral 
     Kelso's] character is not the issue here. The issue is his 
     captaincy of the ship--what happened on his watch--and the 
     signal his performance sends to the Navy and to the world.''
       Should Admiral Kelso keep his four stars, the signal sent 
     to the Navy is that Admirals and such can get away with what 
     lower-ranking officers cannot. The signal sent to the world 
     is that the American military's old-boy network is, despite 
     the general's disclaimer, operating at full tilt.

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