DoD Leadership Crisis

[afchic]

I just got this, and another article from our Commadant here at DISAM. It looks as if the more digging that gets done, more senior leaders are implicated in ethics violations.

Greensalsa, this may be of particular interest to you.

Monterey County (CA) Herald
November 28, 2012
Pg. 1

Allegations Went Back Years, Reports Show By Larry Parsons, Herald Staff Writer Two Navy inspector general reports detailed Tuesday the hot water that two ousted Naval Postgraduate School leaders found themselves in.

The reports dated Nov. 21 detail allegations going back several years against school president, retired Navy Vice Adm. Dan Oliver, and school provost Leonard A. Ferrari.

While some allegations deal with improper handling of gifts, primarily through the school foundation, the reports don't suggest either man engaged in schemes for personal enrichment.

The report concerning Oliver runs to 98 pages, while the report on Ferrari contains 27 pages. The blistering reports also call into question the future relationship between the school and its supporting foundation.

The documents say there will be follow-up reports "on the doings of others at NPS we do not consider to be senior officials."

The report on Oliver deals with six allegations that:

• He hired a finance-administrative vice president as a contract employee to get around federal salary limits.

Colleen Nickles, a former associate vice president at CSU Monterey Bay, holds the senior leadership job. A 2008 consulting report recommended that NPS create the vice president position because the school needed "greater clarity" in budget and financial areas.

• He allowed the executive director of the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation to interview candidates for the job.

• He allowed a female contract employee — whose name was redacted — to perform government duties.

• He placed the school's comptroller in an improperly subordinate position.

• He accepted and solicited gifts from the foundation on behalf of the Navy in violation of several policies.

• He engaged in excessive and wasteful overseas travel.

The inspector general upheld five of the six complaints, only finding that Oliver's overseas travels "had a reasonable connection to his official duties."

The report said the violations were "particularly egregious" in light of Oliver's 34-year naval career and flag officer position.

Oliver was aware of ethics training and the rules and held others accountable to them, but "failed to comport himself in accordance with those rules," the report said.

Oliver's conduct regarding the vice president position, in which he paid the employee $275,000 a year after she rejected $162,000 per year plus a one-year $25,000 bonus, amounted to "waste and gross mismanagement."

Oliver testified that the cost of her contract would be offset by salaries of unfilled senior civilian jobs, the report said.

Personal gifts

The report said Oliver accepted two personal gifts — patio furniture and a gas grill — from the foundation. But he asserted the items were used for official functions at his residence, the Stanley House, on NPS grounds.

"I moved in a with a suitcase and a television, and I probably won't take the TV when I leave," Oliver is quoted in the report.

The report said Oliver was instrumental in creating a foundation "recruitment and retention" fund that should have been given as a gift of money to the Navy for the school. The report criticized Oliver for his refusal to acknowledge the fund existed.

Foundation money also was used improperly to cover a $10,000 expense to bring a Nobel laureate to the school, the report said. And Oliver improperly allowed Navy school employees to get expense reimbursements from the foundation.

"Rather than set an example of exemplary behavior, President Oliver was an integral part of the problem," the report said.

Because of widespread inappropriate behavior regarding gift rules and the foundation, the inspector general recommended that NPS's gift acceptance authority be rescinded pending revision of the rules and training.

The report also said the secretary of the Navy should look into whether the relationship between the school and the foundation be permitted to continue.

"The Foundation, whose primary purpose is to support NPS, appears willing to undertake actions on behalf of NPS that foundation leadership knows would be improper if attempted by NPS itself," the report said. "This is inexcusable and intolerable."

The foundation

The president of the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation board of trustees said Tuesday night by phone that the nonprofit does not have oversight of the process by which its gifts are accepted at the college.

"From my perspective, no one has done anything illegal," board President Bill Warner said. "Nobody stole any money"

The function of the foundation, which is legally separate from the school, is to support the school through internships, academic awards, upgrades to facilities and other efforts detailed on its website.

"It's important that people don't have the wrong conclusion that something nefarious was going on," Warner said, "that people were stealing money, doing something bad, something criminal."

Warner, who has been president of the 24-person board for five years, called the firing of the school's top officials "unfortunate."

"Everyone has the proper intent of helping the school," he said, "of helping it succeed."

The foundation had raised $1.5 million from contributions, grants, investments and other revenue in 2010, said its most recent publicly available tax records. Its total expenses that year were $1.2 million, records say.

Efforts to reach Merrill Ruck, executive director of the foundation, were unsuccessful.

Allegations against Ferrari

As for Ferrari, the Office of the Naval Inspector General looked into two specific allegations that he:

• Solicited and accepted gifts from the foundation in violation of laws and Navy rules.

• Took excessive and wasteful overseas trips.

As with Oliver, the inspector general didn't find anything wrong with Ferrari's travels abroad. But it said the foundation improperly reimbursed Ferrari by check and paid vendors on his behalf.

From 2007 to the present, the report said, the foundation made proper gifts of cash and property worth more than $900,000 to benefit the school.

But during the same period, Oliver, Ferrari and "various NPS staff and faculty members accepted gifts directly from the foundation in a manner inconsistent" with laws and Navy rules, the report said.

In Ferrari's case, the improper gifts included payments for wine, dinners, taxi fares, gift coins, tie pins and coffee table books, the report said.

The report doesn't indicate Ferrari engaged in any activities for large-scale personal gain, but exhibited "poor judgment" in seeking and accepting gifts.

Herald Staff Writer Phillip Molnar contributed to this report.

[afchic]

Monterey County (CA) Herald
November 28, 2012

Top 2 NPS Officials Dismissed President, provost disciplined as probe finds rules flaunted By Jim Johnson, Herald Staff Writer A Navy investigation of the Naval Postgraduate School has found evidence school officials have consistently chosen not to adhere to federal and Navy rules, regulations and policies, and actively sought to avoid changing their practices.

In a 129-page report released Tuesday, Naval Inspector General J.P. Wisecup outlines a series of findings and recommendations involving the Monterey school's operations originating from a command inspection conducted June 4-22.

The inspection report, which is dated Oct. 22 and includes a list of 88 recommendations, led to two other reports that resulted in the dismissal of the school's two top officials — President Dan Oliver and Provost Leonard A. Ferrari — announced Tuesday.

Oliver, a retired Navy vice admiral, was the school's first civilian president. The investigative report focuses much of its attention on his apparent efforts to downplay the school's status as a military facility and to reshape it as more of a research university.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus directed the formation of a working group led by Assistant Navy Secretary Juan Garcia that will be charged with implementing the recommendations of the reports. Garcia will report directly to Navy Undersecretary Bob Work and Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson.

In a letter to Mabus that accompanies the report, Wisecup wrote that the inspection's findings were "not favorable to NPS and impact just about all NPS activities." He strongly criticized what he called an "atmosphere of defiance of statutory requirements and Department of Navy rules and regulations" at the school, which he said must cease.

The "overarching problem," Wisecup wrote, is that school officials choose not to adhere to the rules with regard to the "majority of its programs, because it will not reconcile its academic philosophies and ideals with governing standards."

Wisecup noted that emails showed school officials discussing how to avoid following the advice of the inspector general and the school's legal counsel, referring to them as "impediments" to be overcome rather than listened to. He pointed out school officials had already "wilfully ignored" or improperly implemented similar previous recommendations, and suggested that only direct action by Navy leadership would result in change.

The failure of school officials to comply with the rules is a "direct result of the lack of oversight and autonomy" the school has been offered, he wrote.

In the report, inspectors recommended Mabus "determine the mission, function and task" of the school, and called for realigning the school under his staff. They questioned whether the school had the authority to charge tuition and accept reimbursement for educating federal civilian personnel, and recommended that Mabus look into whether it was in the department's best interests for the school to continue educating non-Department of Defense personnel and to participate with foreign universities for the exchange of professors, students and research efforts.

The inspectors recommended determining whether the school was authorized to seek private-sector funding. It said the school should develop a centralized process for research proposals that ensures students' research opportunities directly support graduate education and renews its commitment to educating naval officers.

The report recommended a full review of the school's organizational structure and said it should consider hiring an executive director to handle daily activities. It suggested establishing a "collaborative curriculum review" and implementing a "systematic review" of all departmental procedures.

It suggested a review of the school's financial reporting system and enforcement of a written "zero tolerance" policy for unauthorized commitments of funds, along with a regular review and update of the school's financial management and contracting guidelines.

The report found a need for ethics training for faculty, staff and students, and suggested an examination of the relationship between the school and its foundation, including the establishment of clear guidelines on interaction between the two, such as the foundation's access to campus and special privileges.

It recommended a review of the school's academic integrity program and the process for suspected academic honor code violations.

The report suggested a review of the school's recruitment, relocation and retention bonus program, the use of seasonal and term appointments, and the practice of allowing tenure-track faculty to "buy out" teaching responsibilities.

The report said three Navy Office of General Counsel attorneys with specific expertise should be added to the school's staff; legal counsel should be involved in any matter involving the interpretation of law, rules and regulations; and the general counsel of the Navy and the judge advocate general should visit the campus until they are "personally satisfied" school leaders are "committed to the rule of law."

In addition, the school should be assigned a permanent inspector general, who will meet with the school president on a recurring basis.

When the investigation was announced in May, Oliver reportedly sent a memo ordering all school staff and faculty to immediately preserve all documents — official and unofficial, including emails — and remain in the area while investigators visited the school. The memo even recommended that vacations be rescheduled.

According to the memo, the investigation was conducted under the direction of Work, an NPS graduate who had visited the campus in early May.

[JimP]

AFCHIC - I'm seeing the equivalent reaction via Big Army. They seem to forget that these clowns have been schooled through the years as to what is expected in the way of proper conduct so the ignorance excuse doesn't wash. The problem is that when you have the Wesley-Clark clones picking people that look/act like "themselves"...you have ethical lapses. Unless you have grounding moral values and an ingrained sense of ethics (both are attributes the military beat out of itself in the '90's) you are set up to fail at a certain rank. For some, they fail at the O-4 level and should go no higher; others, it's at the FO/GO ranks. The sense of entitlement is strong, especially when you have a staff of sycophants trying to impress you and make you notice them. For too many, this goes to their heads and they fail.

BY all acounts, General Ward (former AFRICOM CDR) was a great guy. But if you read the IG report, the moral, ethical and CRIMINAL lapses are too serious, too many and too egregious to simply take a star and continue-mission.

We have a serious leadership vacuum due to failed personnel polices during the Clinton years (the breeding ground of our future GO's). Being at war for the last 10 years hasn't helped either. You simply can't gut the military and then launch a two-front war without massive internal damage. The damage inflicted to our troops won't be evident for years to come.

[afchic]

AFCHIC - I'm seeing the equivalent reaction via Big Army. They seem to forget that these clowns have been schooled through the years as to what is expected in the way of proper conduct so the ignorance excuse doesn't wash. The problem is that when you have the Wesley-Clark clones picking people that look/act like "themselves"...you have ethical lapses. Unless you have grounding moral values and an ingrained sense of ethics (both are attributes the military beat out of itself in the '90's) you are set up to fail at a certain rank. For some, they fail at the O-4 level and should go no higher; others, it's at the FO/GO ranks. The sense of entitlement is strong, especially when you have a staff of sycophants trying to impress you and make you notice them. For too many, this goes to their heads and they fail.

BY all acounts, General Ward (former AFRICOM CDR) was a great guy. But if you read the IG report, the moral, ethical and CRIMINAL lapses are too serious, too many and too egregious to simply take a star and continue-mission.

We have a serious leadership vacuum due to failed personnel polices during the Clinton years (the breeding ground of our future GO's). Being at war for the last 10 years hasn't helped either. You simply can't gut the military and then launch a two-front war without massive internal damage. The damage inflicted to our troops won't be evident for years to come.

All of us have had leaders in our lives that we would like to emmulate (few for me) and others that provide teaching points based on what a shitty leader looks like (too many to count).

Over the past 6-7 years there have been several times when I was ready to punch. Ready for some personal reasons, but mainly because of how jaded I have come to be with leadership at ALL levels. But then I look at my husband and he provides me with inspiration, and the realization that there are many more good leaders out there than bad. And if the good guys leave, who is going to be there to lead the next generation out of this hole we have found ourselves in?

Carl was passed over for O-5, on 5 seperate occassions. He could have punched at any time and still had a decent retirement. But what kept him going, what kept him focused on the mission, was his people. He once told me, I think it was when he was passed over the 4th time, that he stays because if he doesn't, who is going to look out for his guys? Who is going to make sure they are taken care of, and not abused? Who is going to guide them? At great expense to himself, and his family at times, he stayed.

Before having met him, I had heard about leaders like him, but had met very few; Tough but fair. No time for bullshit. Take care of your people and they will take care of you. Anyone who has ever served with my husband (subordinates and superiors alike) would follow him not just to the gates of hell, but through them. They would jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if he told them it was a good idea, and they would never question why, because if Horrible asked it be done, it was done.

He was rewarded by being promoted 5 above the zone. I am not sure how it works in the other services, but it is UNHEARD of in the AF. He took a job he knew he would hate, at HQ, not for career progression, or getting face time with the GOs, but because he knew it what was best for his people. They needed someone who understood them writing policy for them. They needed someone who didn't care about getting promoted, being able to tell the unvarnished truth and articulate to the AF and Joint leadership why what they did was important.

I have heard from many Junior Officers over the years on how much they hated him from time to time. The one he left behind in Kuwait instead of taking him into Iraq because he just wasn't ready and would have put the troops in danger. Oh boy was he hated. But upon further reflection, and a little growing up, this now O-5 realized he became a better officer because of it.

The enlisted guys who had never been on a team with him before who thought he was a slave master. But came to realize they had a better chance of promotion being with him because they became so much more proficient at their jobs because he was so hard on them.

Even after retiring after 28 years in uniform he is still at it, because his guys still need him. He could have easily taken jobs offering over $300K for his services like many GO/FOs do when they retire. But that isn't him. No amount of money was worth his soul as he told me :)

I truly hope there are more Carl's out there. Fighting the good fight, albeit quietly. Mentoring the next generation on what a truly selfless leader is. Making them understand that being able to look in the mirror every morning and liking what you see is more important than a fat bank account.

He gives me hope that maybe we are starting to cut away at the poison infecting our leadership. It will leave a raw open wound for a time. But maybe, just maybe, it will grow stronger and flourish.