DoD personnel chief slammed in IG complaint - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

DoD personnel chief slammed in IG complaint

At least six senior Pentagon staff members, including federal civilian employees, senior executives, and uniformed officers, have filed a complaint with the Defense Department Inspector General against the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, retired Marine Maj. Gen. Clifford Stanley.

The complaint, filed anonymously July 11, accuses Stanley of fraud, waste and abuse, incompetence, and creating a command climate marked by fear and mistrust. They cite his leadership as “destroying the morale and effectiveness of the Personnel & Readiness Directorate,” and claim “30 senior executive service civilians have been fired, forced to retire or resign, detailed involuntarily or marginalized in other ways” since Stanley took the job in early 2010.

“Dr. Clifford Stanley is severely degrading the department’s mission in time of war,” the complaint says.

Multiple attempts to reach Stanley directly via email and telephone, and through Pentagon public affairs staff, were unsuccessful.

Marine Col. Dave Lapan, a senior Defense Department spokesman, said the department “is aware of the allegations and takes them seriously. This has been referred to the IG’s office, and we know that the IG will be reviewing the complaints to determine how they plan to proceed.”

IG complaints are unsubstantiated and carry no legal weight; they serve only as a basis for potential further investigation.

A spokesman for the DoD IG cited that office’s standard policy of neither confirming nor denying receipt of a complaint or whether an investigation is under way. If an investigation is launched in this instance, it would likely fall to the IG’s administrative investigations office.

Only about one in five IG complaints involving senior official misconduct are substantiated.

A senior defense official said Stanley was brought into the personnel and readiness directorate “to review and strengthen that component. He was brought in because the administration believes he has the military background, knowledge and experience to do that.”

A source familiar with the complaint who spoke on condition of anonymity declined to say how many complainants are involved, but said it is more than one from each of the SES, GS and military contingents in Stanley’s sprawling directorate.

This is the second time staff members from the directorate have raised concerns. In a separate letter sent to lawmakers in May, a group of “executives at the Department of Defense” expressed grave concerns about inaction in a number of areas under Stanley’s jurisdiction, including lack of progress on hiring reform or increasing jobs for veterans; minimal effort to stand up a DoD office for suicide prevention; scant progress on creating a seamless electronic records system with the Department of Veterans Affairs; and little focus to update the instructions for the office responsible for sexual assault prevention, or to empower that office to respond to identified problems.

They claim the only major accomplishment by the office was its efforts to prepare for repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on open service by gays, but note that issue was driven by a mandate from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama.

It is unclear if that letter was written by the same people or a separate group, but that letter said Stanley “has created an atmosphere of fear and retaliation.”

Other accusations in the IG complaint include wasteful spending on a $360,000 “sumptuous new conference room,” which “exacerbated marginal working conditions,” and is used only for Stanley’s three weekly half-hour internal staff meetings.