Army Fires, Suspends 14 Commanders at Fort Hood after Failure to Rein in Crime, Sexual Harassment
Members of the U.S. military carry the casket of U.S. Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen in Houston, Texas, August 14, 2020. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)
On Tuesday, there was a report, issued by the Army, detailing widespread leadership failures that created a “permissive environment” leading to sexual harassment and other crimes at Fort Hood in Texas.
The report was completed by five independent panelists and was led by Chris Swecker. Mr. Swecker has past experience as the head of a FBI Criminal Investigative Unit.
This author is, with great restraint, going to abstain from commentary about an “FBI Investigative Unit” head honcho.
The report states, in part, the following:
“The Commander of a military installation possesses a wide variety of options to proactively address and mitigate the spectrum of crime incidents. Despite having the capability, very few tools were employed at Fort Hood to do so,”
“During the review period, no Commanding General or subordinate echelon commander chose to intervene proactively and mitigate known risks of high crime, sexual assault and sexual harassment.”
The investigation was the result of numerous deaths (25) on the base.