Army, ex-general clash over book about special ops
WASHINGTON— When retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the former commander of the U. S. Army’s elite and secretive Delta Force, published a book in 2008, it detailed some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive operations of the 20th century.
Among the topics were the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran and the tragically flawed 1993 mission in Somalia that killed 18 U.S. troops and was later depicted in the book andmovie “BlackHawkDown.”
Retiredmilitary personnel who write about sensitive issues commonly submit their works to the Pentagon for advance review to ensure that they don’t divulge classified information. But Boykin declined to do so, forging ahead with publication of “Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom.”
TheArmy struck back last year, quietly issuing him a scathing reprimand following a criminal investigation that concluded he had wrongfully released classified information, according to an Army document obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of InformationAct request.
According to the Jan. 23, 2013, memorandum, the Army determined that Boykin’s book disclosed “classified information concerning cover methods, counterterrorism/counter-proliferation operations, operational deployments, infiltration methods, pictures, and tactics, techniques and procedures that may compromise ongoing operations.”
The reprimand is the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents in which senior military officers have faced scrutiny for alleged wrongdoing.
But Boykin says it’s not so simple in his case. The Defense Department first launched an investigation into his book shortly after it was published and determined in 2010 that he had not releasedanyclassified information, he said. The Army then reopened the investigation about two years later, after he publicly voiced objections to several Pentagon policies, including the ongoing integration ofwomen into more jobs in the military, he said.
The general, who retired in 2007, has a history of making controversial statements inwhichhehas depictedU.S. military operations against Islamic extremist organizations such as al-Qaida as a Christian fight against Satan, riling religious rights groups and organizations dedicated to the separation of church and state.
Asked why he was reprimanded, Boykin questioned the Army’s motivation, insisting that he had received approval to write his book before it was released and that all information in it had been disclosed previously in other books, movies and news reports.
“You draw your own conclusions,” Boykin told the Post. “Why would they reopen it? What was the purpose of reprimanding me basically five years after they started an investigation? Did it take that long to determine whether I had written anything classified?”
A spokesman for the Army, George Wright, declined to comment on Boykin’s comments or to explain why the service waited so long to issue a reprimand for a book published in 2008.
“The memo obtained through the Freedom of Information Act speaks for itself,” Wright said of the allegations against Boykin.
Thememo, signedbyGen. Lloyd Austin III, then the Army’s vice chief of staff, does not specify which information in the book was considered classified. Instead, it cites the disclosure of such information and accuses Boykin of “unprofessional behavior” that “reflects poorly on your character.”
Controversy around Boykin’s book has arisen before. Shortly after publication, a 2008 Army Times article suggested that Boykin had been named “persona non grata” in Delta Force. Adm. William McRaven, then a three-star officer overseeing Joint Special Operations Command, told lower-ranking commanders to avoid Boykin, the report said. McRaven is nowthe top officer overseeing U.S. special operations. His spokesman, Ken McGraw, told the Post there is no official “persona non grata” list, but he acknowledged that some individuals working in special operations may have had issues with Boykin’s book.
Boykin told thePost that if he “realized there would be thismanyaccusationshurled against me,” he probably would have submitted “Never Surrender” for a Pentagon review. He didn’t fight the reprimand because he was retired, he said.
“Any reprimand has to be takenseriously,” hesaid.“But at this stage in my life, it really hasn’t had any impact on my life like itwould have if it had happened when I was on active duty.”