Martin Meehan: “the Navy needs to take a long, hard look at the Tailhook incident and the investigation that followed. The failure to…”

“the Navy needs to take a long, hard look at the Tailhook incident and the investigation that followed. The failure to find the truth about what happened is almost as embarrassing as the allegations themselves, because dozens of officers commissioned in the Armed Forces of the United States chose to close ranks and protect themselves and their friends rather than to do what was right, and tell the truth. And while the senior leaders of the Navy rush to defend Frank Kelso, they seem to have forgotten about Paula Coughlin, who has no admiral's pension to help pick up the pieces of her ruined career. She showed tremendous courage in coming forward, and we should remember the real victims of Tailhook. The Tailhook scandal and subsequent investigation are symptoms of serious problems that demand sustained attention from the service's senior leaders. I intend to keep after the Navy on this issue when the Armed Services Committee holds hearings in early March. The Navy has an obligation to the Nation and to itself to confront both sexual harassment and the absence of accountability that allowed the Tailhook scandal to occur and the guilty to go unpunished. Admiral Kelso's early retirement is the first step in putting Tailhook behind us, not the last.”