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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (172489)	8/17/2001 9:20:47 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

General Is Charged in Osprey Case By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer Maj. Gen. Dennis T. Krupp AP/Bob Jordan [17K] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-star general, five colonels and two lower-ranking Marine Corps officers have been charged with misconduct in the alleged falsification of maintenance records for the MV-22 Osprey aircraft, officials said Friday. Maj. Gen. Dennis T. Krupp, commanding general of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Cherry Point, N.C., is charged with dereliction of duty on grounds that he knew or should have known of the falsification. The announcement was made by Marine Forces Atlantic headquarters in Norfolk, Va. The commanding general there, Lt. Gen. Raymond P. Ayres, Jr., notified the eight officers of the charges last week, but their identities were not made public until Friday. Marine officials said they did not know whether any of the eight would comment publicly on the charges. Ayres gave the eight until Friday to decide whether to appear before him for administrative hearings to answer the charges or to ask to move ahead with the first step in court-martial proceedings to challenge the allegations. All eight chose to attend the hearings, although they could choose to seek a court martial after they appear before Ayres, Marine spokesman Maj. Bryan Salas said. Ayres said the date of the hearings has not been set. Each of the eight will be given a chance to present evidence and to rebut the charges. Ayres will then decide whether to dismiss all or part of the charges or impose punishments, such as a written reprimand. He also has the option of referring all charges to a court martial. The Osprey program — regarded as a key to the future of Marine Corps aviation — was in trouble even before the allegations arose in January. Two Osprey crashes last year killed 23 Marines and stirred speculation that the program might be killed. The aircraft is designed to take off like a helicopter, rotate its propellers to a horizontal position and cruise like an airplane. The charges stem from allegations received last January by senior Marine Corps leaders that officers in the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron, based at New River, N.C., had ordered the doctoring of maintenance records for the Osprey to exaggerate its performance record. At the time, the Pentagon was on the verge of deciding whether to go ahead with full-rate production of the Osprey. Two crashes in 2000 had raised serious questions about the reliability of the aircraft, although the Pentagon's inspector general later concluded that the alleged falsification of records at New River had nothing to do with either crash. Ayres' office announced charges against the following officers, in addition to Krupp: — Col. Laurin P. Eck, former assistant program manager at Naval Air Systems Command, charged with violating a lawful order by failing to report falsification that he observed. — Three officers charged with dereliction of duty. They knew or should have known of the false reports, according to Ayres. They also are accused of violating a lawful order by failing to report the falsification. The three are Col. James E. Schleining, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 26; Col. Phillip L. Newman, assistant chief of staff for the aviation logistics division at the 2nd Marine Air Wing, and Lt. Col. Demetrice M. Babb, an aviation maintenance officer in the aviation logistics division of the 2nd Marine Air Wing. — Two officers are charged with dereliction of duty: Lt. Col. Odin F. Leberman, who was commanding officer of the Osprey training squadron at New River at the time, and who has since been relieved of command, and Capt. Christopher Ramsey, an assistant aviation maintenance officer in Leberman's squadron. Ayres said they knew or should have known of the suspected false maintenance reports. Leberman and Ramsey also face two other charges: making false official statements and conduct unbecoming an officer. ``They allegedly wrongfully, and with the intent to deceive, forwarded up the chain of command false MV-22 maintenance reports,'' Ayres' office said in a statement announcing the charges. With regard to the charge of conduct unbecoming an officer, the statement said Leberman and Ramsey ``allegedly wrongfully and dishonorably ordered the Marines under their command to falsify'' the Osprey records. The eighth officer facing charges in this case is Chief Warrant Officer Matthew W. Smith, the maintenance material control officer in Leberman's former squadron at New River. Smith is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. Ayres' office said he knew or should have known of the false reports and passed them up the chain of command ``with the intent to deceive.'' ———