U.S. Naval War College will have 1st female president

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A helicopter pilot who heads a military command in Guam will be the first female leader of the U.S. Naval War College, the Navy announced Friday, days after removing the college president who came under investigation over questionable behavior.

Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield will be the new president, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said in a statement released after the school’s graduation ceremony, calling her a “historic choice.”

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Harley was removed as president Monday after The Associated Press reported he was under investigation and more than a year after the initial complaint was filed.

Mr. Spencer was at the post-graduate institution in Newport, R.I., on Friday for graduation. About 550 students crossed the stage, and about 1,000 students graduated from the distance learning program. Mr. Spencer challenged them to be innovative and act with urgency.

Shortly afterward, he released the announcement about the school’s new leadership.

Adm. Chatfield served as commander of a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan in 2008 and as an assistant professor of political science at the United States Air Force Academy from 2001 to 2004. She assumed command in Guam, of Joint Region Marianas, in January 2017.

The AP reported Adm. Harley was under investigation for allegedly spending excessively, abusing his hiring authority and otherwise behaving inappropriately, including keeping a margarita machine in his office.

A small group of longtime college employees filed an anonymous complaint about Adm. Harley in April 2018 with the Navy’s office of the inspector general and again in January.