U.S. General 'guilty' of sexual harassment

WASHINGTON, JULY 8. The two-star General accused of sexually harassing the Army's highest-ranking woman has requested early retirement after military investigators endorsed the charges against him, Pentagon officials said on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith has denied any wrongdoing, but he asked to step down after a letter of reprimand was entered into his personnel file, the officials said. He is to retire on Sept. 1. The Army's Inspector General determined that the General harassed and assaulted Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy in her Pentagon office in 1996. But officials said there were no plans to reduce his rank or retirement benefits through a Grade Determination Review Board. Lt. Gen. Kennedy, whose high-profile allegations were closely followed throughout the armed services and by women's rights advocates, released a statement expressing satisfaction at the conclusion of a case she had pursued reluctantly. ``I am satisfied with the Army's action in this case,'' she said. ``As far as I am concerned, this matter is closed.''

In a statement released by the Army, Maj. Gen. Smith said: ``I have always and continue to maintain that I did not commit these allegations and I am deeply disappointed with the decision to substantiate them. However, for the good of my family and the Army, we have elected to put it behind us and move on with our lives.''

The action against the General, a 55-year-old veteran of three tours in Vietnam, ended the first instance of sexual harassment charges lodged by one Army General against another. The case embarrassed the Army, which has been hit by a series of sex scandals and has sought to appeal to women by insisting that it will not tolerate sexual harassment.

In a heavily edited report released on Friday under the Freedom of Information Act, the Army's Inspector General, Lt. Gen. Michael Ackerman, concluded that Lt. Gen. Kennedy, who is 52, told the truth about the encounter with Maj. Gen. Smith even though only the two were present. At the time of the incident, the two were of equal rank, and they both said only that they had met in Lt. Gen. Kennedy's office and that the encounter ended with a hug, the report said. Beyond that, they ``were in total disagreement as to what happened when they were alone,'' it said.

Maj. Gen. Smith testified that he gave her ``a hug and possibly a `cheek kiss,''' the report said, but he ``strongly denied any wrongdoing.'' Prior to her allegations, Maj. Gen. Smith said he considered her a ``family friend,'' it said. But the Inspector General concluded that Maj. Gen. Smith's actions amounted to assault and battery and sexual harassment.

The evidence did not support a more serious charge of indecent behavior to gratify sexual desires, the investigation found. ``By holding her and kissing her against her will,'' the report said, Maj. Gen. Smith displayed conduct that ``was unbecoming of an officer and a gentlemen.''

The Inspector General largely based his conclusions on the strength of Lt. Gen. Kennedy's testimony and the belief that she had more to lose than to gain by making her charges public. She filed charges against Maj. Gen. Smith only last year, three years after the incident. She pressed the case after Maj. Gen. Smith was named to become the Army's deputy inspector general, a post that would have given him responsibility for investigating charges of sexual harassment.

``Evaluating the allegations came down to a question of credibility,'' the report said. ``There appeared to be no motive for'' Lt. Gen. Kennedy ``to jeopardise her career and reputation by making false allegations''. ``They were not in competition for assignments,'' the report said. ``She did not arrange the office call. There was no apparent incentive for her to ruin his unblemished career and destroy their friendship with false allegations.''

- New York Times

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