Daschle Rejects Pentagon’s Stance Toward Adultery

WASHINGTON — In a damaging blow to Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston’s chances of becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Senate’s Democratic leader on Friday rejected the Pentagon’s argument that some cases of adultery are more serious than others.

“I think the regulation and the discipline ought to be applied exactly the same in all circumstances,” Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) told reporters. “If it isn’t, then I think the Pentagon needs to reevaluate whether or not this nomination ought to go forward.”

Although Daschle’s comment seemed to be almost an afterthought near the end of a news conference devoted to tax legislation, it went to the heart of Defense Secretary William S. Cohen’s justification for considering Ralston for the Pentagon’s top uniformed post, despite an admitted adulterous affair more than a decade ago.

Cohen has maintained that Ralston’s affair with a civilian, which the general said occurred when he was separated from his then-wife, did not damage military effectiveness or bring discredit to the Air Force. He said the circumstances were far different from those that resulted in adultery charges against First Lt. Kelly J. Flinn, the country’s first female B-52 pilot.

Flinn resigned from the Air Force last month, without the honorable discharge she sought, to avoid a court-martial that could have sent her to prison.

But Daschle’s reaction and that of others on Capitol Hill showed that Pentagon leaders have not yet provided a clear and persuasive argument for the way they enforce military regulations on sexual misconduct, which, critics say, are applied unfairly to women and lower-ranking service members.

Cohen, meanwhile, ordered an accelerated staff study on the role of women in the military--how they are trained and the role they play in military preparedness as well as military relations between the sexes, a senior Pentagon official said.

The official said that the study will examine the rules on sexual conduct to determine if they are clear and to discover whether military superiors are properly trained to enforce the regulations, especially when women are involved.

Cohen had hoped to wait for the current controversy to abate before going ahead with the examination of the role of women, the official said. But he has concluded that the controversy will continue to boil indefinitely so the study “will happen sooner rather than later.”

Although Cohen has made no secret that Ralston is his first choice to replace the retiring Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, Pentagon officials said the secretary probably will not send a formal recommendation to the White House until the end of next week at the earliest. President Clinton then either would approve Cohen’s choice and send it to the Senate for confirmation or reject it and ask the Pentagon for another candidate.

Cohen met over breakfast Friday with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the panel that will conduct hearings on the Joint Chiefs nominee. Although the meeting was scheduled before the Ralston furor broke out, Cohen used the opportunity to lobby the senators to consider charges of sexual misconduct on a case-by-case basis.

It appeared Friday afternoon, however, that Cohen had failed to change any minds. Lawmakers who had said before the meeting that they were ready to support Ralston reiterated that position. Others who had expressed doubts about the appointment continued to do so. And those who had refused to comment still were unwilling to talk about it.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said: “I support Secretary Cohen’s effort to draw some meaningful distinctions in an emotionally charged area and to make a judgment based on the applicable legal standards.” Levin said military law does not prohibit adultery unless it damages the “good order and discipline” of the service or brings discredit on the military.

But Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), also a member of the committee, said the Pentagon is in danger of undermining the discipline it so carefully cultivates if it uses one rule for generals and another for junior officers like Flinn.

“Certainly there are distinctions from case to case, without a doubt,” Snowe said. “But we have to make sure that [regulations are] enforced, and we have to make sure that they’re uniformly applied and there’s no selective enforcement with respect to these issues.

“Otherwise, I think it does give the appearance of preferential treatment with respect to gender or with respect to rank and I do think that’s unfortunate and that is certainly going to erode, I think, the good order and discipline that the military is striving to achieve,” she said.

Snowe’s remarks on the NBC-TV program “Today” preceded her meeting with Cohen. But one of her aides said later she had not changed her mind after discussing the matter with the Pentagon chief.

At the White House, Press Secretary Mike McCurry stressed that the ball is in Cohen’s court.

“The president has not evaluated the facts and Secretary Cohen is doing that. And we’ve got a lot of confidence in his ability to do it and get it right and they’ve got the issue over there,” McCurry said.