The case for all three accused was settled in an 'out of court' agreement eight months later. The three black midshipmen football players resigned from the Academy as part of negotiations with the Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office to avoid prosecution on charges of raping their female classmate. According to the Washington Times (Roig-Franzia, Manuel and Argetsinger, Amy, "Navy Students Quit to End Rape Case," Wash. Times, 9 March 2001), "The proposed agreement… calls for the charges against all three men to be placed on a stet docket, which means the charges would be inactive but could be resurrected within a year against any of the men if he is accused of another crime. Any of the men who does not run afoul of the law would be eligible to request expungement of the charges in three years … Navy Academy officials agreed when the case began last summer authorities would have primary jurisdiction. A Pentagon source familiar with the case said the proposal was presented to Naval Academy officials, who 'raised no objection.'"

       All three men acknowledged sexual contact with the woman but said it was consensual. Prosecutors rejected the defense settlement offer in December 2000. Defense attorneys responded with aggressive efforts to gather information about the female midshipman's past sexual history. The settlement was reached one week before scheduled hearings on the admissibility of evidence about that sexual history.

       The men will not be asked to reimburse the academy for their tuition. Pentagon guidelines require military academy students who resign in their third or fourth years to repay tuition, which can cost them $60,000 to $80,000. In a letter to the editor (Fahey, Dan, "Something New for the Navy," Wash. Post, 16 March 2001) a former Academy midshipman states, "The Navy's decision to allow three midshipmen to resign from the Naval Academy to avoid prosecution for rape is odd enough, but its policy of forgiving the offenders the $60,000 to $80,000 that they owe for their education is bewildering. A few years ago the Navy also forgave the same size debt for two dozen students kicked out of the academy for cheating. After I was honorably discharged from the Navy as a conscientious objector, I had to repay my ROTC scholarship. I asked for debt forgiveness, but the Navy turned me down, and I repaid my debt in full. Perhaps the image-conscious Navy should try a new policy: Forgive the debt of those who are honorably discharged and recoup the money from those who have cheated or raped their fellow students."

       Fahey's letter is especially prescient. It has been revealed (Ibid, Wash. Times, 9 March 2001) that "Navy officials have not decided whether the students' departures from the academy will be deemed honorable or dishonorable discharges, a Pentagon source said."  Truth is, they had better be honorable discharges or Jessie Jackson and Kwame Nfume will be camped at the Navy's doorstep charging 'discrimination.'

       In a lengthy article which provides some details in the alleged rape case against the three men, The Washington Post reveals that (Roig-Franzia, Manuel and Argetsinger, Amy, "At Academy, Rape Case Fuels Doubts: Midshipmen Escaped Punishment, Some Say," 9 April 2001), "The woman they were accused of raping, who told police she awoke from a drunken stupor to find naked men on top of her, remains at the academy, clinging to the remnants of her privacy and wrestling with doubts about agreeing to the deal, according to her mother."  The alleged victim's identity has not been made public. "In a lengthy interview, the woman's mother said that her daughter felt compelled to agree to the deal because defense attorneys were pouring over her sexual history, pushing for school records and demanding a psychiatric evaluation."

       "'They were emotionally stalking my daughter, asking for all those things,' her mother said. 'If only there were some way it could have been prosecuted without my daughter being put on trial.'"  Of course we all recognize this as the standard radical feminist cry -- which is diametrically opposed to the constitutional provision that an accused has the right to face and challenge his accusers in a court of law.

       The mother does have a point, however, regarding admission standards at the Academy. "Things weren't supposed to turn out this way. The [victim] had dreamed of attending the Naval Academy since she was in kindergarten, her mother said. The men she accused of raping her were high school football heroes who came to the academy primarily bent on achieving gridiron glory. 'They weren't punished at all,' the [victim's] mother said of the three former football players. 'There's no doubt in my mind they're going to do it again. It's going to catch up with them.'  The only problem we have with the academy,' she said, 'is if the admissions board had recruited future naval officers instead of football players, they wouldn't have been there in the first place.'"

       The mother is backed up on that point by two of the three men. According to the Post, "Navy was an offbeat choice for the star running back. Brittingham, like Williams, said he had no aspirations about a military career. But they liked the football coaches and they thought an academy education might help them in the job market. 'I never thought about going to a military school,' Brittingham said. 'Some people dream of that, but that wasn't me … I still can't say I liked the military life.'"

       The Post describes how the party at which the alleged rape occurred was hosted. Many Academy alumni have wondered out loud how in  the world midshipmen would have access to a private home where such activities might occur -- drunkenness, sex (consensual or otherwise). "In late June, while they were attending summer school after their second year at the academy, word spread that Elizabeth Vary, a midshipman on the crew team, was hosting a party at her family's weekend place. It is a perfect spot for a blowout, half of a waterfront duplex in Arnold with striking views of the Severn River of Annapolis and the state Capitol. George Vary, Elizabeth's father and president of the American Zinc Association, confirmed that he rents the home but declined to discuss the party."
       "Brittingham and Williams said they didn't know Vary; it was Martin who had heard about the party, and they went along for the ride. At least a dozen midshipmen were there, according to court records. Many of the partygoers were underage, many were athletes … There were repercussions for others at the party, according to a Navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Among the penalties meted out for underage drinking and curfew violations were demerits, which can affect class rankings, extra duties, and restricted liberties, the source said. There were several athletes at the party, including the host, Vary, but none was suspended from competition, the source said."

       The mother said that "Her daughter didn't want to take the stand and face cross-examination about the intimate details of her life … There were other considerations, too, the mother said. Her daughter worried that the investigations could come back to hurt her and the other underage drinkers at the party. She worried it might be enough to get them expelled from the academy."  Her daughter, the 'victim' in this matter, is still enrolled with good standing at the Academy.

       "Race played a role in the decision [by the three football players], friends and sources familiar with the case said, although the former players steadfastly refused to discuss this. The former players are black, and the woman is white. The men feared a racist person could get on the jury and turn the rest of the jurors against them, based solely on the color of their skin, friends and sources said."

       So what is going on here?  It is abundantly clear that the Naval Academy has the same problem as the 'feminized' Navy as a whole -- affirmative action gone awry. Stephanie Guttman, in her book 'The Kinder, Gentler Military: Can America's Gender-Neutral Fighting Force Still Win Wars,' Scribner, 2000) describes the scene on one of America's front line combat aircraft carriers -- the USS Stennis, patrolling the  Persian Gulf. In her chapter titled, 'Sex and Lies and Aircraft Carriers…' she writes, "The sun has nearly slid into the sea on the western horizon as the floating city chugs along through the war Gulf waters...It is twilight, le heur bleu, as the French say. Just like most everybody else on the planet, the young crew of the Stennis feel that little twinge of melancholy … at the blue hour. Soon it will be time for 'darkened ship' -- when lights are turned off or dimmed to a sickly ochre or blood red -- and the little city will seem to close in on itself entirely."

       "Most everybody feels the melancholy, the loneliness … around this time...And, in fact around about seven o'clock there is a kind of Happy Hour vibe [to generate light and body heat] down here in the Hangar Bay, that great steel Carlsbad Cavern of space where about half the ship's fleet of planes are parked for the night for maintenance. This is enlisted country -- the kids are in charge! Commissioned officers come here some during the day, but they have little reason to stay because the supervisors on this deck are young petty officers...Here, there is some sense of life and freedom"

       "There's always something going on in the Hangar Bay. [Mostly aircraft maintenance, but] for many, however, this is 'The Lido' (a term coined by bemused junior officers on a different gender-integrated ship) -- the place where the thousands of junior enlisted can cruise and mingle...Once you've met somebody, there are plenty of places to go to get to know them better. In fact, as one serpentines through he vast steel forest of parked machinery (as long as two football fields) stooping to avoid decapitation by a jet wing … one keeps coming upon shy courting scenes, like something out of Gainsborough, a man and a maid, except here they sit in the shade of a fuselage and not a spreading tree."

       "Just off the Hangar Bay at the very bow of this deck is a dim space the enlisted kids call 'the smoking sponson.' It's a really popular place to congregate because it's one of the few where you're allowed to smoke, and also because there is no bulkhead at the area's bow-most end -- nothing except loose, billowy, tacked-up cargo net between you and the feel of real sea air and the sight of the prow cutting through the inky waters. Outside the sponson all one can see are the bobbing orange tips of cigarettes and silhouettes of the socializers. Inside it feels very much like your average sports bar on 'Ladies Night': by the light of one naked, low-watt bulb, one can pick out clusters of anxious males, laughing a little too loudly while surreptitiously tracking the movements of the one or two female seamen who have wandered in and bestowed themselves on a few lucky men."

       A female member of the Stennis' crew told Guttman, "You have to remember, that a majority of the ship are men, so a new female is 'fresh meat' … so to speak. That's the main thing about females and males on the ship; they are lonely -- all of 'em are. It's a very lonely type of job; you're very far from home and its like being on an island with very little choice of who you're with. But that's why they hang around the Hangar Bay. Period. I knew a girl who came the same time I did. She would go, put full makeup on, do up her hair, and then put on her jogging clothes to go exercise in the Hangar Bay, and after running she would walk around. That's how she met most of her boyfriends."

       "The late nineties -- about eight years into America's experiment with the world's biggest, most-deployed coed force -- have produced one solid finding. Here it is: To everybody who asked, 'So, are they having sex?' after I'd been out 'in the field,' I can now report that, yes, as a general rule, it is safe to assume, and the data and survey instruments definitely indicate, that men and women and girls and boys (and combinations thereof) in gender-integrated units have plenty of sex."

       And just as it is in the fleet, so it is at our nation's military academies. In addition to the alleged rape cases as described above, there are reams of evidence of widespread sex on these 'campuses.' For example (Crime & Justice, Maryland, "Academy Investigates Sex Allegations,' Wash. Post, 29 March 2001), "U.S. Naval Academy officials are investigating separate allegations that a Midshipman football player and male soccer player each had sex with female classmates in the campus dormitory, a violation of academy rules that could lead to expulsions for all involved … As part of the inquiry, academy officials are investigating whether the women were sexually assaulted … If the cases are deemed sexual assaults, the men could be tried in a military judicial proceeding or in civilian courts and could face prison time if convicted. Administrative hearings about the allegations begin this week, sources said."

       Another example of the affirmative action gone awry in the U.S. military is a case at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, CO. The Washington Post reports ("Air Force Instructor Accused Of Having Sex With Cadets," 9 March 2001) "A female instructor at the Air Force Academy has been charged with having sex with two cadets and lying about it. CAPT Christine M. Fiori, an assistant professor of civil engineering, is the second academy staff member accused of sexual misconduct in the past year. She was charged by military prosecutors … with willful dereliction of duty and making a false statement, and she has been suspended pending the outcome of the case…In July, the Air Force dismissed a Roman Catholic chaplain who was accused of having sex with a female cadet beginning in 1984 and continuing for several years."

       And at the Naval Academy, we read of the story of more 'formal courtship' as practiced by two young midshipmen who end up getting married right after graduation. The Washington Post story (Roig-Franzia, Manuel, "Navigating A Sea of Love," 26 May 2001) treats the situation as a New Age 'Romeo and Juliet' romantic saga. Quoting one of the midshipmen involved, "Our relationship has been an academy relationship; everything we have done has been based on living at the academy, living by the rules."

       But the story also reveals a darker side. "Still, not everyone wants to play the Navy's way. Breaking rules is a fundamental part of the academy's subculture. There are a few daring mids who will go to great lengths to arrange an illicit rendezvous. They rely on another vocabulary, a doctrine dictating that, 'you rate what you skate.' In other words, you deserve to do whatever you can get away with.

       Isn't this a magnificent revelation about our nation's premiere military academies?  Where once, patriotic young men who desired to follow the footsteps of Navy leaders of old and become imbued with the 'warrior ethos' that won America's battles at sea could be educated to form our nation's core combat leadership. Leaders whom the nation could entrust to help WIN our future wars. This is transparently being destroyed by radical feminist affirmative action at our nation's premiere military academies, particularly at the U.S. Naval Academy.

       So what is the Naval Academy's answer to this plague?  Dig deeper into the dung heap and admit those who have a high likelihood to further degrade the Navy's reputation. For example, a recent report in the Washington Times ('Academy criticized on teen's admission," 29 July 2001) reveals the lengths to which the Academy will go to meet affirmative action 'quotas' for admission. "Naval Academy alumni are criticizing the school's acceptance of an 18-year old from Massachusetts who recently had a run in with police there. Asa Jearld faced felony charges last month after police said he led them on a car chase, fled on foot from an officer and later attempted to file a false report claiming that his car had been stolen. In addition, he was charged with assault with intent to murder."

        "[Jearld] started school last week at the Naval Academy Preparatory School … where he will spend the next year before joining the class of 2005 at the academy."

       "Charges against Mr. Jearld were dropped when Cape Cod … District Attorney Michael O'Keefe learned that Mr. Jearld was a strong candidate for academy admittance. O'Keefe said  that if the academy had decided not to accept Mr. Jearld, then the charges would have been reinstated. Naval Academy officials said they decided to accept him because the charges were dropped."

       So, there you have it. It has been necessary in times of great peril to their survival that great nations, empires such as in the days of Marcus Aurelius, emperor of the Roman Empire, to man their fighting forces with criminals and other low-lifes. But it is uncommon for a nation, especially one described by some as the world's 'only remaining superpower,' to reach so low to man our armed forces -- especially our core combat leadership -- with those who have displayed criminal proclivities. This says more about America than it does about the Naval Academy. If we, as a nation, accept this travesty then America is, indeed, in a state of precipitous decline. All in the name of affirmative action. Affirmative action based on race. Affirmative action based on sex. Affirmative action based on ethnicity. And maybe, in the future, even affirmative action based on 'sexual orientation.' Who knows?

       Maybe the Naval Academy Foundation will raise the $175 million desired to fund Distinguished Academic Chairs, including the Toni Morrison Chair of Race and Gender Studies, which in the future could include such a far-fetched possibility. After all, if the Naval Academy is to compete with the Harvards, Yales, and Princetons, maybe it will fund the type of curricula that now exist on our nation's first-rate campuses. For example, it is reported in the New York Times ('Trash Tropes and Queer Theory: Decoding the Lewinsky Scandal, 5 August 2001) that "Tyler Curtain, who teaches critical and queer theory in the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill writes: 'Something about the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship is definitely queer … If, as Toni Morrison has argued, there is some truth to the claim that Clinton is our first African-American president, then I want to pipe up; he's our first queer one as well. Monica's famous navy blue dress from the Gap was stained on a day that included the bestowal of a copy of Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' by William Jefferson Clinton on Monica Lewinsky … Whitman has been used as a shibboleth for non-normative sexuality since his first writings …"

       Far fetched?  Probably. But who would have thought thirty years ago that the Navy would have descended into the cesspool of affirmative action as described above.

       This sad state of affairs should not be surprising. In my 1996 book, 'The New Totalitarians,' I document a conversation with a group of Naval Academy professors with a cumulative 48 years of teaching there. They explained that "...fully 30 percent of the midshipmen in their classes were not qualified to be in any college, much less the Naval Academy. They identified the problem as lowered entrance requirements for minorities, women, and football players. They also related that the presence of these sub-par midshipmen resulted in pressure from their military supervisors for leniency in grading their work."

       In that same book, I document a written statement by VADM James B. Wilson, USN (Ret.) who was the Chief, Naval Education and Training during the 1974-78 time period. He describes a well-intentioned effort to bring more blacks into the Navy's officer corps, which some observers regarded, together with other initiatives, as a response to the race riots and drug use on several warships during the early 1970s. His experience involved a failed experiment to bring NROTC to small historic black colleges (HBCs). The politicians' response to this failure was to open the same avenue to more, even smaller, HBCs. VADM Wilson responded by 'turning in his stars' -- he retired.

       VADM Wilson, thus, tells us that affirmative action became Navy policy with respect to training naval officers from the mid-70s on. VADM Wilson asks the rhetorical question, "What are we to learn from this experience?" He answers, "The misjudgment that lay at the heart of the policy decision to seek black officer candidates from schools with academic programs deficient in academic rigor grew out of a failure of communication between political appointees and uniformed/civil servant officials assigned to the Department of Defense. Certainly no military expert, uniformed or civilian, would have found the HBC academic program adequate preparation for the intense competition found within the career officer ranks. A similar failure of communication between military and civilian elements exists today, affecting a broader front involving the White House and Congress as well as the Department of Defense. It is already clear that political correctness will be bought at great cost to military readiness."

       This same malady has now, since the early 1990s, infected our premiere military academies -- those institutions responsible for educating our nation's core combat leadership. Our New Age political leaders have imposed a corrupt affirmative action policy on the Navy that assures a 12/12/5 and 20 percent quota for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and women respectively. And these quotas are imposed on every aspect of military life -- recruiting, access to prized programs (such as naval aviation), qualification standards, retention and promotion.

       And now, we are observing the abject failure of this corrupt policy at the U.S. Naval Academy. There, we have New Age 'ethics' vice traditional virtue-based morality, softened training standards vice firm, solid disciplinary practices. Contradictions abound. The illogical concept of sexual harassment (protecting these fragile females from predation by their own) prevails at home while training those same women to be hardened 'warriors' to fight and kill our nation's enemies abroad.

       And now, we have rape. A respected alumnus asks VADM Ryan, "We alumni long for rapid, non-PR communications from the Supe that will tell us exactly what the facts of the case may be.  And, as an alumnus and a midshipman in the days when discipline at Bancroft Hall was uniformly rigid and unconditionally enforced, I ask the following questions: (1) Were these ... Midshipmen on leave or in a duty status?  (2) If the latter (or if on-leave residents of Bancroft) how can they be allowed off station to become involved in late-night drinking parties in nearby Annapolis, (3) How has their behavior been guided by the vaunted 'Ethics and Leadership' courses, lectures, and discussion groups? and (4) Did they graduate from those required ethics courses with passing grades?"

       Another astute Academy alumnus writes to VADM Ryan, " I am saddened by the continued negative images fostered on the loyal alumni of our beloved institution by persons who have slipped through the screening process. It is time to take bold action and get rid of the dregs who tear the USNA down. Where are the background checks that used to be done on us. I certainly had my past looked at. These two rapists did not just take up negative conduct out of the blue. I am willing to bet they have checkered pasts and were waivered to get in!"

       All of this suggests that many Academy alumni are catching on. The problem there is affirmative action. And the problem will not be solved until everyone understands that equal opportunity gone awry is destroying this venerable institution.

       But the active-duty Navy leadership either does not understand this or, if understood, is too timid to take action that would lead to a solution. And waiting for the Bush administration to institute 'reforms' does not seem likely. After all, these corrupted policies have crept up on the U.S. Navy over the past two-plus decades while conservative as well as liberal presidential administrations were in power.

       The solution will come only after active-duty military leaders find the courage of their convictions to firmly and finally oppose these corrosive policies pressed on them from above by the political leadership. Yes, some would lose their careers. Some would be retired at reduced rank. And all would be vilified by the politically correct, inside and outside the current administration.

       But these military leaders must find a way to RESIST their civilian superiors in these matters in the same way that their predecessors did when vitally important military decisions loomed. Stories are legion of how our World War II naval officers matured to flag rank during the Cold War and made their way to correct decisions in the face of civilian political incompetence, excess, and frivolity in military affairs.

       Such naval leadership is not now forthcoming. What is their answer to the fact that the new 'ethics' program at the Academy is corrupt, corrosive, and bound to produce the kind of midshipmen who would find themselves charged with rape of a female mid?

       Their answer is, 'Keep quiet.' Keep the information within the 'ranks.' Cover up the shortcomings. Just hope it will all go away. ADM Leighton W. Smith, Jr. USN (Ret.), Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, wrote to all Academy alumni on 20 July 2000, discussing VADM John Ryan's handling of the rape cases at the Academy. He forcefully reminded his fellow alumni that the Superintendent 'is in command,' 'when the talking is over, decisions are made by that one officer in command,' the main difference between John [Ryan] and us [the alumni] is that he is in command,' and that ['the alumni should support him.'

       ADM Smith's letter to Academy alumni followed a letter from the Superintendent, VADM Ryan to Naval Academy Alumni/Parents/and Friends, dated 15 July 2000. In this letter, VADM Ryan attempted to explain why he did not take administrative actions, as has been traditionally taken under regulations governing the Brigade of Midshipmen in the past, concerning the alleged rapes involving midshipmen at an off-campus drunken party. This letter was nothing but a whining plea for understanding of why the Navy could not discipline the offenders, nay, would not even investigate the accusations made by a female midshipman against the male midshipmen involved for violations of Academy regulations. In the days when the Navy leadership at the Academy was unafraid to apply discipline to the Brigade of Midshipmen, such an appeal for sympathy would have been unheard of.

       This is only one example of the Academy's strategy -- 'Keep quiet.' Keep the information within the 'ranks.' Cover up the shortcomings. Just hope it will all go away. Another example is the Alumni Association's handling of a gentle rebuttal of CAPT Clemente's defense of the new 'ethics' program in the February 2000 issue of the 'Proceedings.'

       A universally respected flag-rank officer who held very responsible commands during the Cold War submitted to the 'Proceedings' a balanced and well-reasoned rebuttal to CAPT Clemente's' defense. This official naval journal prides itself in publishing 'both sides' of contentious naval issues. That submission addressed 'both sides' of the 'ethics' issue in a very responsible manner. You can be assured that the tortured editing of this submission over a seven-month period 'weeded out' all reference to a 'diminished warrior spirit' at the Academy as well as any contextual information which contrasts the heroism of our WWII naval officers and the heroism of their role models (and the training that produced them) as superior to the New Age 'ethics' training that is now being carried out at the Academy under the intellectual guidance of politically correct civilians with PhDs in philosophy or ethics from Harvard, Yale, or Georgetown. After over 7 months of  'censorial' editorial re-writes and stiff opposition to some of the text, some passages of which had already been published in Shipmate, the gentle rebuttal article was withdrawn. Shouldn't we wonder why?

       Another example is a letter from RADM John M. Barrett, USN (Ret.), USNA class 1944, to RADM Ned Hogan USN (Ret.) who had published a critique of the 'ethics' program in the FORUM section of the Sunday Washington Times ('Ethics and the next century's navy,' Wash. Times, 11/28/99). "My goal is to persuade both you and ADM (sic) Hill to disassociate yourselves from the way Gerald Atkinson is using your fine service reputations ... I would be professionally and personally ashamed to have my name associated with his agenda."

       This same RADM Barrett wrote RADM Hill, "I have become firmly convinced that the Service Academies are far ahead of other state-supported universities in challenging the students in their care to think and learn more about their character in a morally relativistic society. I believe we should work together to support this superb effort, keeping our criticisms for any details within our Naval Academy and our Alumni community."

          It is clear that the Academy leadership has an agenda in this matter. Deny the obvious -- the New Age 'ethics' program is a failure -- while at the same time dividing the critics and find sycophants who will carry out ad hominem attacks on those who have been most effective in exposing the corruption of morality and 'ethics' training at the Academy.

       The clincher in all of this is a missive recently sent to me by a 'concerned citizen' obviously very close to the 'ethics' program at the Academy. It states, "I write to you as a last resort...I am writing to ask for your continued investigation and support -- it is needed! I certainly cannot speak to [anyone], as [they have] made it clear that any voice of dissent from the program established by Dr. Sherman will not be tolerated. What I think you might not be aware of, is just how entrenched the 'politically correct' model is becoming here at USNA. The ethics section is now headed by [a civilian, name deleted], a man universally despised by the midshipmen and by those who are required to work with him. The junior officers  are subject to his continual complaints against the lack of military leadership while he boasts of the two other jobs he holds while making nearly $100,000 a year as a professor at USNA. [He has a significant salary and expense account from] the 'American Academy for Liberal Education' in Washington, D.C. It is a national disgrace to have this waste of tax dollars on a man who 'stops by' the office every few days and then spends the rest of his time on his consulting jobs -- at tax payer expense."

       "The leadership (or lack of) must be exposed for what it is -- fraudulent. Midshipmen deserve better than this and our nation deserves better than this. The lack of morale and lack of values [in the 'ethics' program] is a national disgrace and I ask for your help."

       I am now convinced that an external audit is required to reform the 'ethics' training program at the Academy. The reasons are stated below.

      Naval officers at the Academy are behaving like politicians.  They appear to be trying to play both sides against the middle.  That is, they may be playing lip service to their civilian overseers in the teaching of 'ethics' to our future naval officers -- and teaching leadership and 'ethics' based on the 'virtue tradition' of Christianity, as they claim.

       Or they are, instead, conning the USNA alumni and the American people by actually BEIEVING IN and ACTIVELY PROMOTING the corrupt New Age 'ethics' curriculum imposed on the Academy by civilians in the political power elite of the Clinton administration.

       Public and private statements, verbal and written, tend toward the latter possibility. Given this situation, the only way that outsiders (including skeptical USNA alumni) will ever find out what is actually going on is to sit-in on randomly selected 'ethics' classes and seminars and listen to the discourse carried out there. They must be given completely free rein to interview as many midshipmen as they desire, given practical time constraints. This includes the ethics course taught by civilians as well as the Character Development Seminars.

       Those who participate in this external 'audit' will have to be made aware of what they are looking for in order to ascertain the truth. If you know nothing of the subject matter presented by the civilian PhDs, you would be useless in this 'audit' enterprise. Unless you have read extensively on the subject, you will have no idea of what to look for in evaluating the curriculum as it is presently being taught.

       One thing is certain, however. Without such an 'audit,' carried out by a cadre of retired naval officer alumni of the Academy and other knowledgeable professionals, we will never know the truth in this matter. Too much is on the line for active duty officers, currently involved in the 'ethics program, to 'come clean.'  Their careers are on the line. And if Tailhook '91 is any example, they would be summarily purged if they told the truth and the truth is as suggested here.

       As a result of this reasoning, I suggest an external 'audit' be conducted of the 'ethics' training program at the U.S. Naval Academy. This audit team should be led by a respected retired Navy or Marine officer with rank at least equal to that of the Superintendent. Such leadership should come from the ranks of those who have actually participated directly in some capacity in a real 'shooting war.' This would assure us that the stifling 'deterrence warrior' attitude toward combat would not hold an upper hand in determining the quality of the 'warrior spirit' in our future core combat naval leadership. Examples of such leadership abound; several concerned 3-star and 4-star flag rank 'warriors' exist who have participated in actual combat operations since WWII. Such proven military leaders should be given the sole authority to choose the individual auditors on their team. Such a completely independent audit is the only way the TRUTH will come out and corrections can be made.



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