The Washington Post - 19.08.2019

A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 19 , 2019

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BY KAROUN DEMIRJIAN

AND DAN LAMOTHE

Newly obtained documents

from a military investigation into

sexual assault allegations against

President Trump’s pick to be the

No. 2 officer at the Pentagon pro-

vide fresh insight into how a Sen-

ate committee decided to recom-

mend the nominee for confirma-

tion, as lawmakers prepare for a

final vote early next month.

The materials suggest that

while serious questions were

raised about Air Force Gen. John

E. Hyten’s accuser, investigators

did not reach a conclusion about

whether he had assaulted her —

leaving it to senators to make a

judgment call.

The hundreds of pages of docu-

ments, including some released by

the military Friday and others ob-

tained exclusively by The Wash-

ington Post, shed new light on

what senators considered as they

deliberated over Hyten’s nomina-

tion to be the vice chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Armed

Services Committee voted 20 to 7

to recommend Hyten’s confirma-

tion.

They also show how the deter-

mination by many of the senators

that Hyten had been falsely ac-

cused went beyond the military

investigators’ conclusions.

Democratic and Republican

members of the committee have

said little publicly about their

closed-door sessions with Hyten

and Col. Kathryn Spletstoser, who

accused the nominee of making

unwanted sexual contact with her

on several occasions in 2017 while

she worked for him at U.S. Stra-

tegic Command, or Stratcom.

Hyten has denied the allega-

tions. But he has faced tough ques-

tions about what many senators

deemed troubling lapses of judg-

ment surrounding the circum-

stances of Spletstoser’s employ-

ment, and her allegations.

The materials include an exten-

sive summary of the Air Force Of-

fice of Special Investigations’

probe of the allegations against

Hyten, a lengthy Army inspector

general report about Spletstoser

and a Defense Department inspec-

tor general report in which the

watchdog declined to substantiate

any allegations of ethical lapses by

Hyten regarding government trav-

el and use of his personal security

detail.

After reviewing the Air Force

investigation, senior officials “de-

cided there was insufficient evi-

dence to prefer any charges or

recommend administrative ac-

tion” against Hyten, the service

said in a statement Friday.

In one issue raised in findings

from the Air Force’s report, which

were released to the public Friday

morning, a civilian witness told

investigators that Hyten paid for

and took a polygraph and that the

inconclusive results “frustrated”

him. Hyten declined to address

questions about the polygraph in a

second interview with investiga-

tors, according to the Air Force

report.

For many senators, assessing

Spletstoser’s credibility came

down to two key factors: an inter-

nal military assessment that she

had created a “toxic work environ-

ment,” which prompted her dis-

missal from Hyten’s command,

and questions about her mental

state at the time of the firing.

Elements of both are detailed in

the Air Force investigation’s sum-

mary and the previously undis-

closed Army inspector general in-

vestigation of whistleblower

claims Spletstoser raised against

Hyten’s chief of staff after she was

dismissed.

Investigators found that

Hyten’s top aide, Army Maj. Gen.

Daniel Karbler, acted properly and

within his authority.

Both reports detail claims by

Spletstoser’s colleagues that she

was sharp-tongued, foul-mouthed

and often combative, though re-

views were mixed as to whether

her style was “toxic.” Their inter-

views also suggest that Hyten was

either unaware of Spletstoser’s be-

havior or condoned it.

Hyten gave Spletstoser a glow-

ing job performance review in

mid-November 2017, just as his

command was launching an initial

workplace climate assessment

that prompted the probe of Splets-

toser in late December and her

eventual dismissal. Hyten’s de-

fenders have accused Spletstoser

of fabricating the sexual assault

charges in an effort to exact re-

venge for her termination.

But Spletstoser alleges that the

focus on her “toxic leadership” was

an attempt to get rid of her after

the most egregious of the alleged

sexual assaults, in which she said

Hyten ejaculated after pinning her

against him in her hotel room at

the Reagan National Defense Fo-

rum in early December 2017.

Senators challenged Hyten dur-

ing his public hearing last month

to explain why he had supported

Spletstoser when her conduct was

so objectionable to others in his

command. He testified that he was

slow to realize Spletstoser was a

toxic leader but that once he did, “I

moved quickly in order to deal

with that.”

The Air Force’s report indicates

that Hyten recommended her for

employment to other senior lead-

ers, including the Army’s top two

officers, Gens. Mark A. Milley and

James C. McConville. Emails that

Spletstoser provided to The Post

suggest that Hyten continued to

advocate on her behalf into Janu-

ary 2018, even as the Army was

determining that her conduct was

worthy of investigation.

On Jan. 21, after an investiga-

tion of Spletstoser’s actions at

Stratcom was launched, Hyten

wrote to Lt. Gen. John Murray to

“sing her praises” and offer flexi-

bility on when she could report to

her next job if it would help in

selecting her to be his executive

officer.

“Just a few things about her,”

Hyten wrote in an email. “She is

brilliant, tough and detail-orient-

ed.” He added, “For complete

transparency, she has one quality

that rubs some people the wrong

way — she can be demanding —

but I like that.”

The authenticity of the emails

could not be verified, but their

content appears to match descrip-

tions in the Air Force report.

Murray, since promoted to be

the four-star general in charge of

Army Futures Command, recalled

to Air Force investigators that he

interviewed Spletstoser but chose

a more qualified candidate. Splets-

toser, Murray said, “did not have a

good reputation in the Army” and

had been described to him as abra-

sive.

Spletstoser defended her style

in an interview.

“Can you argue that, ‘Hey, you

were mean to people’? Yeah, I’ve

apologized to every one of them,

and I own that,” she said. “If you

were being sexually assaulted be-

hind closed doors and you were

being pressured and manipulated

by a four-star who held everything

you hold dear in the palm of his

hand, and he could destroy you,

maybe you wouldn’t be so nice

either.”

Yet some say it was Spletstoser

who was manipulating the system.

The documents detail how before

accusing Hyten of sexual assault,

Spletstoser raised several other

complaints about how he, Karbler

and others had handled the inves-

tigation into her workplace con-

duct and the disciplinary actions

that followed. The military has

said it conducted 34 investigations

into such complaints — but Splets-

toser said the cases were opened at

the military’s discretion, based on

details she offered inspectors gen-

eral about her senior officers.

According to the Army inspec-

tor general’s report, Spletstoser

also told investigators that “the

golden ticket to get somebody

fired” in the military is to say

“they’re toxic, they’re a bully, or

they did something like sexual ha-

rassment or sexual assault.”

“Those are the four ways to get

people fired automatically. It just

is,” she said, according to the Army

probe.

Spletstoser told The Post that

those comments did not refer to

Hyten, “nor is it in any way some-

thing I would do to get someone

fired.”

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Heidi

Brown, who overlapped at Strat-

com with Spletstoser and Hyten,

said Stratcom staff members have

rallied around Hyten because of

their experiences with both offi-

cers.

Army officials declined to say

why Spletstoser was allowed to

take her current job at the Defense

Threat Reduction Agency at Fort

Belvoir in Virginia.

The service’s chief of public af-

fairs, Brig. Gen. Amy Hannah, said

that as a matter of policy, the Army

does not publicly discuss which

Army personnel are considered for

positions on the Army senior staff.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Files detail sex-assault investigation into general

ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser, at top, has accused Air Force Gen.

John E. Hyten, above, of sexual assault. He has denied the

allegations. A Senate committee has recommended Hyten, Trump’s

pick to be the No. 2 officer at the Pentagon, for confirmation.

Shed light on senators’

decision about nominee

for Joint Chiefs vice chair

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