From: Dutch Rauch To: Subject: RE: Navy May Restore Tie With Tailhook Date: Thursday, August 12, 1999 5:20 AM Thanks to BudT -- Wednesday August 11 3:20 AM ET Navy May Restore Tie With Tailhook By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Navy is taking tentative steps to restore official ties with the Tailhook Association, the naval aviator's booster organization whose sordid 1991 Las Vegas convention produced a major sex-harassment scandal. Navy Secretary Richard Danzig on Tuesday announced that he is sending a three-member Navy delegation to this year's Tailhook Association convention, scheduled for Aug. 19-20 in Reno, Nev. He held out the offer of ``possible resumption of support'' for the organization in a letter to Tailhook president Lonny K. McClung. ``As you know, the shameful events at the Tailhook convention in 1991 led to a withdrawal of our support for the Tailhook Association,'' Danzig wrote. ``Over the past eight years, however, the association has taken a number of constructive steps that warrant a review of its status.'' Female officers were groped by aviators attending parties during a three-day aviator's conference at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel in September 1991. The Defense Department inspector general implicated 117 officers for sexual assault, indecent exposure and other acts, and faulted the Navy's leaders for failing to stop the behavior. The episode triggered the resignation of Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett and the early retirement of Adm. Frank B. Kelso, then the chief of naval operations. It also led to lawsuits, multiple investigations and changes in the Navy - including more emphasis on ethics and sexual harassment awareness and an opening of more aviation opportunities for women. Navy spokesman Cmdr. Brian Cullin said, ``This is a cautionary act, not an embrace. ... But it is an action taken based on the progress we have seen the Tailhook Association has taken over the years.'' The spokesman also noted ``dramatic changes in the Navy'' since the episode, including the introduction of women combat pilots who fly aircraft off carriers. ``Our profile has changed,'' Cullin said. According to the Navy, there are now 238 women pilots and 103 women flight officers. The Navy has 50,209 active-duty women and 327,889 active-duty men. Danzig said the Navy delegation that would attend the next Tailhook convention would consist of Carolyn Becraft, assistant Navy secretary for manpower and reserve affairs; Vice Admiral Mike Bowman, commander of U.S. Naval Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and Lt. Gen. John Rhodes of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. Danzig commended the organization for taking steps to improve its image, including adopting resolutions condemning harassment and honoring the ``services and sacrifices of all those who are ... a part of carrier-based aviation.'' ``To determine whether official support of the association is now warranted, I need to assess the extent to which the association lives by these principles,'' Danzig said. He said that in order to earn back the Navy's support, Tailhook would have to show that it could focus on ``professional challenges and opportunities facing naval aviation,'' support all men and women in the carrier aviation community and ``take all reasonable steps'' to prevent other episodes of misconduct.