2 intelligence officials for Navy face inquiry

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. admirals, including the director of naval intelligence, are under investigation as part of a major bribery scandal involving a foreign defense contractor, Navy officials announced Friday night.

Vice Adm. Ted Branch, the service’s top intelligence officer, and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, the Navy’s director of intelligence operations, were placed on leave Friday and their access to classified material was suspended, the Navy said in a statement.

Both admirals are being investigated for their ties to a Singapore-based defense contractor, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, whose chief executive, Leonard Glenn Francis, was arrested in September on accusations that he bribed other Navy officers into giving him classified information in exchange for prostitutes and cash.

Two Navy commanders and a senior Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent already have been arrested in the case, and a captain was relieved of his ship’s command last month after officials said he was under investigation as well.

The Navy did not disclose why Loveless and Branch had drawn the scrutiny of investigators, but said their purported misconduct occurred before their current assignments and before they became admirals.

“There is no indication, nor do the allegations suggest, that in either case there was any breach of classified information,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy’s chief spokesman, said in a statement.

Neither Branch nor Loveless has been charged with a crime or service violation, and both men retain their rank while the investigation proceeds, the Navy said.

The suspension of two senior intelligence officials raises serious questions about the degree to which national security may have been compromised because of improper contact between Navy officers and Glenn Defense Marine.

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego have charged the two Navy commanders with passing classified information about ship and submarine movements to Francis, a Malaysian national.

Navy contracting officials raised suspicions about Francis as far back as 2005. But prosecutors allege he was able to dodge scrutiny by bribing Navy officers and the NCIS agent with female escorts, cash, paid travel and other perks, including tickets to a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand and the Lion King musical in Japan, according to court records.