page_title: Tailhook scandal
section_title: Navy investigations and response
hierarchical_section_title: Tailhook scandal / Navy investigations and response
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Navy Rear Admiral George W. Davis, VI.
context_page_description: The Tailhook scandal was a military scandal and controversy in which United States Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aviation officers were alleged to have sexually assaulted up to 83 women and seven men, or otherwise engaged in "improper and indecent" conduct at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. The events took place at the 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium from September 5 to 8, 1991. The event was subsequently abbreviated as "Tailhook '91" in media accounts.
  The alleged sexual assaults mainly occurred in a third floor hallway in which "hospitality suites" rented by participating military units for the conference were located. According to witnesses, a "gauntlet" of male military officers in civilian clothes groped, molested, or committed other sexual or physical assaults and harassment on women who walked through the hallway. In addition, military officers were alleged to have engaged in public nudity, excessive alcohol intoxication, public sexual activity, and other lewd behavior in and around the convention location at the hotel.
context_section_description: Davis' IG investigation was completed on April 28, 1992.  The report did not blame any individuals by name, but it found, "a marked absence of moral courage and personal integrity" in the officers interviewed, whom investigators faulted for failing to accept responsibility for their actions.  The report stated that the Naval officers involved felt that the women who attended Tailhook, "should have expected and accepted" the treatment they received and that there was a, "long-standing, continued abuse and glamorization of alcohol within the naval aviation community."  The report noted that of the 1,730 passengers ferried to Las Vegas on military aircraft for the convention, only 100 were traveling on official orders, which is required for that type of travel.
  The NIS investigation was also completed on April 28, 1992 and stated that it had identified 25 victims of sexual assaults that had occurred at the convention.  Four suspects were identified:  Marine Captain Gregory Bonam for the assault on Coughlin, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael S. Fagan for obstruction of justice and making false official statements, Navy Lieutenant Michael Clancy for helping organize the gauntlet, and Royal Australian Air Force officer Jim Ibbottson for biting women's buttocks (but not for the assault on Coughlin).  After the US government informed Australian authorities of the allegations against him, Ibottson committed suicide.
  A number of members of congress, including Sam Nunn, John Glenn, Barbara Boxer, and Pat Schroeder, were dismayed with the limited scope and results of the NIS investigation, which appeared to have avoided any inquiry into the culpability of commanders or other higher-ranked officers in the incident.  NIS agents had not interviewed any of the commanders of the squadrons which had operated hospitality suites nor any of the flag officers who had attended the convention.  In response, on May 27, 1992 the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) directed the DoD to discipline the involved squadron commanders and that all pending Navy and Marine Corps officer promotions were frozen until the DoD provided a list to the Committee of every officer who had misbehaved at Tailhook.
  Angered by the SASC's decision to freeze the promotions for almost 5,000 Naval and Marine officers, Garrett told Cheney that he wanted to try to convince the SASC members to change their minds.  Cheney forbade Garrett from that course of action, telling him to instead fix the problems with the Navy's investigation as the SASC was requesting.
  On June 2, 1992, Garrett told the Office of the General Counsel of the Navy (OGC), to take over the Tailhook investigation.  The General Counsel of the Navy, Craig S. King, ordered two of his attorneys to review the NIG and NIS investigation reports and identify the squadron commanders and any other officers who should be questioned under the expanded investigation.
  Around the same time, the New York Times asked the offices of Garrett and Kelso if they had been at Tailhook and/or on the third floor hospitality suite area on the evening of September 7–8, 1991.  Garrett responded by publicly declaring that he had not visited the hospitality suites on the night in question.  OGC attorneys rechecked the investigation interview summaries, and found that a witness had testified to seeing Garrett together with Vice Admiral John H. Fetterman, Jr., commander of Naval Education and Training Command, in the HS-1 suite and the nearby VMFP-3 "Rhinos" suite.  The report of Garrett's presence in the suites had not been included in the final NIS report.  On June 9, 1992, Garrett released a press statement saying that he had gone to one party suite at Tailhook, but only briefly to "grab a beer."  On June 12, Garrett offered his resignation to DoD Secretary Dick Cheney, who refused it.
caption: George W. Davis VI
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