The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Army rebuked new security adviser in case
Officers accused of sex assault allowed in Ranger School.
President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, was investigated by the Army and admonished two years ago for mishandling a case involving two junior officers accused of sexual assault, military documents show.
McMaster violated Army regulations by permitting the two lieutenants to attend the service’s elite Ranger School even though they were under criminal investigation, according to a report by the Army inspector general. The case against them was dropped months later after the Army determined the alleged victim was not a credible witness.
For his oversight of the case, McMaster received a light rebuke, known as a “memorandum of concern,” from Gen. Daniel Allyn, the Army’s vice chief of staff, in February 2015. The Washington Post obtained a copy of the documents from the Army under the Freedom of Information Act.
“I am disappointed with your actions,” Allyn wrote in the memorandum, which was not included in McMaster’s personnel file. “As a senior leader in the United States Army, you are expected and required to understand and comply with all laws and regulations.”
McMaster declined an interview request. In a statement on his behalf, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “Lt. Gen. McMaster has served alongside women, and benefited from their bravery and dedication, his entire career. As a commander he has been a leader in sexual assault prevention in each of his commands. To suggest otherwise is to unfairly impugn the character and integrity of a true American hero.”
The case dates to 2013, when McMaster served as commanding general of Fort Benning, Ga., home of the Ranger School. At the time, the U.S. military leadership was under withering fire from Congress and the White House for failing to tackle an epidemic of sexual abuse in the ranks.
The case concerned two second lieutenants who had graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in May 2013. Both had been on the school’s rugby team, which was temporarily disbanded that spring after players were caught circulating sexually degrading emails about women.
Investigators examining the rugby team’s conduct interviewed a female cadet who said she had been groped on several occasions by two of the players, according to military documents. The matter was referred to criminal investigators and an Army prosecutor found there was probable cause to proceed with the case, the documents show.
The two lieutenants had previously been awarded coveted slots to attend Ranger School, the Army’s grueling combat leadership course held in the swamps, mountains and woods of rural Georgia. Under Army regulations, they should have been prohibited from enrolling because they had been flagged as the subjects of a law-enforcement action.
Unidentified congressional officials learned in 2014 that the former rugby players had been improperly allowed to go to Ranger School and asked the Army to investigate, which led to the inspector general’s probe of McMaster, records show.