General loses post in latest military misconduct case
String of scandals shakes Pentagon
Military officials have relieved a senior officer from a key post in Europe after determining he had misused government resources while having an extramarital affair, the Army has confirmed to USA TODAY.
Army Maj. Gen. David Haight is at least the second senior Army officer in a high-profile position to be relieved of duty for personal misconduct in the last year. In November, Defense Secretary Ash Carter abruptly fired his senior military adviser, Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis, because of an inappropriate relationship.
Haight’s reassignment is the latest instance of alleged misconduct by senior officers to rattle the Pentagon in recent years. Other cases include a drunken binge in Moscow by an Air Force two-star general in 2013 and an ongoing bribery scandal involving Navy officers and a corrupt businessman in the Pacific.
Defense secretaries have commissioned studies into how to stem the problem.
Haight had overseen operations for U.S. European Command, which is charged with confronting a resurgent Russia through the NATO alliance.
Haight was removed from his post this summer without an announcement and reassigned to Army headquarters at the Pentagon. He is listed as a special assistant to the director of the Army staff. Typically, the military reassigns senior officers suspected of misconduct to such positions as investigations unfold. Military law prohibits extramarital affairs.
Haight has been issued a letter of reprimand, a move that effectively ends his career.
“Maj. Gen. Haight was reprimanded for failing to exhibit exemplary conduct by engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman who was not his wife and for misusing government resources,” said Col. Pat Seiber, an Army spokesman.
The Army may convene a board to determine the rank at which he last served satisfactorily, Seiber said. Retiring at a lower rank could cost him tens of thousands of dollars in pension pay.
“I’m very sorry — and take full responsibility — for my actions,” Haight said in a statement to USA TODAY. “I will cooperate fully with Army leadership as the process moves forward.”
Haight is married and has four adult children.