‘Swinger’ general retained security status till story broke
The Army waited WASHINGTON to suspend the security clearance of a two-star general fired for his role in a sordid sex scandal until a day after revelations of his double life were published in USA TODAY, the Army acknowledged.
Maj. Gen. David Haight had been in charge of plans and operations for the Pentagon’s European Command until an Army investigation in April determined he’d been involved in an 11-year-long extramarital affair that included allegations of a “swinger lifestyle.” Haight was found to have misused his government cellphone and email to conduct the affair.
Haight was stripped of his post and brought back to Washington, but he maintained his clearance to review classified information, documents show.
Moreover, Haight did not take a lie-detector test for his sensitive post in Europe because it was not a requirement for his job, according to two Army officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about the screening procedures.
Polygraph tests are rarely administered to senior officers, according to three senior Defense and government officials who were not authorized to speak about who gets screened. There is no indication Haight was the tar- get of espionage, the officials said.
Requiring generals and admirals to take polygraph tests would subject hundreds more government officials to polygraph tests, slowing an already time-consuming process. Further, the National Academy of Sciences has raised questions about the accuracy of lie detectors.
The Haight case shows the need for greater scrutiny of those with access to the nation’s top se- crets, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the Armed Services Committee.
“We’ve got to take a holistic look at the entire process and determine how best to fill gaps that have become painfully evident in the system we’re using to ensure we can continue to trust those privy to the highest levels of secrecy in our government,” she said. “And maybe even more challenging is that we need to try to do so in a way that doesn’t make the current backlog of clearance checks and rechecks unnecessarily worse — because frankly it’s a national security threat either way.”
Haight frequented swingers’ clubs and engaged in sex with multiple partners, his longtime girlfriend Jennifer Armstrong told USA TODAY.
A Pentagon panel will determine whether Haight’s security clearance should be reinstated. He has the right to appeal if the panel revokes it.
“We’ve got to take a holistic look at the entire process and determine how best to fill gaps that have become painfully evident in the system.” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.