Army strips star from general in text scandal
He’s forced to retire after flirting with soldier’s wife
WASHINGTON – The Army stripped a star from a general who flirted on social media with the wife of an enlisted man, finding his actions “dissolute and immoral,” and forced him to retire, the Army announced Friday.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington will lose one rank in retirement after the Army determined he had engaged in inappropriate online communication with the woman in more than 1,000 messages. Harrington had been in charge of U.S. Army Africa from a base in Italy when the relationship, first reported by USA TODAY, became known in August.
Harrington and the woman had exchanged Facebook messages for four months. She is married to an American soldier over whom Harrington had jurisdiction under military law.
The Army issued Harrington a letter of reprimand, a career-killer. The letter noted that Harrington, while not found guilty of a crime, was expected to behave honorably on and off duty.
“Over the course of four months, you participated in the exchange of flirtatious messages with the spouse of an enlisted soldier,” the letter says. “This behavior reflects poorly on you as a senior officer and commander.”
Harrington, in a written statement, apologized to his family and the Army.
“I made a mistake by responding to and entering into a private discussion with a soldier’s spouse,” Harrington wrote. “While we both considered it a friendship-based conversation, it is clear that the discussion should not have occurred. I hope others can learn from and avoid my mistake.”
Stripping his rank and ending Harrington’s career are appropriate moves by the Army, according to a military law expert and advocate for victims of abuse in the military.
“The discipline seems in line with the offense,” said Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor for the Air Force and president of Protect our Defenders, an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault in the military.
Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, agreed with Christensen that Harrington’s punishment was appropriate. But Speier, a critic of the Pentagon’s handling of senior officer misconduct, said discipline varies among the ranks.
“What we need to do with all these senior military officials is have some standardization in their punishment,” she said. “Some get off with a slap on the wrist.”
Last week, Lt. Gen. David Quantock, the Army’s inspector general, testified before Congress that the Army often metes out harsher discipline to generals than lower-ranking soldiers in misconduct cases. Quantock, who signed the investigation into Harrington, said at last week’s hearing that the Army “crushes” generals.
The Army inspector general initiated its investigation after USA TODAY obtained messages Harrington wrote last spring. The inspector general’s report also was released Friday.
“The conversations (ranged) from friendly conversation to flirtatious at times, and included sexual innuendo,” the report says.
The woman who received the messages told USA TODAY last year that the texting began as friendly banter after she had met Harrington at the gym. She became concerned with the texts when they grew suggestive.
She said she did not feel sexually harassed. But she did feel he had “worked” her for three months and perhaps wanted her to send him nude pictures but was too smart to ask.
Harrington also urged her at times to erase records of their chats. Investigators found his repeated attempts to keep their relationship secret showed he knew it was out of bounds.