Navy’s choice to head Naval Operations to step down amid call for inspector general’s investigation – By Tom Vanden Brook (USA Today) / July 7 2019
WASHINGTON – The Navy’s choice to lead the sea service and join the Joint Chiefs of Staff has declined the appointment after a request for his emails by USA TODAY prompted a call for an inspector general’s investigation.
Adm. Bill Moran had been selected to be Chief of Naval Operations, and his nomination was to have been taken up by the Senate.
The Secretary of the Navy has accepted Moran’s request to retire.
USA TODAY has been seeking emails between Moran and a former Navy spokesman who had worked for Moran. Retired Navy Cdr. Chris Servello had also worked for Adm. John Richardson, the outgoing Chief of Naval Operations.
Servello and Richardson were rebuked by Navy officials after Servello had acted boorishly at an office Christmas party and Richardson was slow to discipline him.
A file photo of Admiral Bill Moran. He was confirmed by the Senate as the 39th Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO). Moran was promoted to the rank of admiral by Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, prior to the change of office. (Photo: U.S. Navy photo, U.S. Navy)
“I made this difficult decision based on an open investigation into the nature of some of my personal email correspondence over the past couple of years and for continuing to maintain a professional relationship with a former staff officer, now retired, who had while in uniform been investigated and held accountable over allegations of inappropriate behavior,” Moran said in a written statement.
His abrupt resignation follows the unrelated decision last month by Patrick Shanahan to withdraw from consideration as the next Defense Secretary after USA TODAY and others revealed details of his turbulent divorce and family life.
The FOIA request has not yet been filled so the contents of the private emails exchanged by Moran and Servello are unclear. However, official Navy business must conducted on government accounts.
The investigation stemmed from an office Christmas party in 2016 during which Servello, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, slapped a civilian woman’s buttocks. Later, at an after-party, Servello allegedly made sexual advances in a “predatory” way toward subordinate officers.
The Pentagon has been rocked by several scandals involving senior officer misconduct in recent years. A 2017 USA TODAY investigation found more than 500 cases of serious lapses, almost half of them involving personal or ethical lapses.
