THE PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES OF THE INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND THE MILITARY DEPARTMENTS CONCERNING THE INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DEATHS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL WHICH MAY HAVE RESULTED FROM SELF-INFLICTED CAUSES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1996 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in room SH-216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Dirk Kempthorne (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Committee members present: Senators Thurmond, Kempthorne, Hutchison, Santorum, Frahm, and Robb. Committee staff members present: Romie L. Brownlee, staff director; George W. Lauffer, deputy staff director; Melinda M. Koutsoumpas, chief clerk; and Christine K. Cimko, press secretary. Professional staff members present: Charles S. Abell. Minority staff members present: David Lyles, counsel; Patrick T. Henry, professional staff member; and Peter Levine. Staff assistants present: Patricia L. Banks and Jennifer L. Wallace. Research assistants present: Pamela Farrell and Deasy Wagner. Committee members' assistants present: John Molino, assistant to Senator Coats; Glen E. Tait, assistant to Senator Kempthorne; David W. Davis, assistant to Senator Hutchison; Patricia L. Stolnacker, assistant to Senator Santorum; Dan Stanley, assistant to Senator Frahm; Steven A. Wolfe, assistant to Senator Kennedy; John P. Stevens, assistant to Senator Glenn; Lisa W. Tuite, assistant to Senator Byrd; and Suzanne Dabkowski, assistant to Senator Robb. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DIRK KEMPTHORNE, CHAIRMAN Senator KEMPTHORNE. The Subcommittee on Military Personnel will come to order. We meet today on the heart-wrenching issue of American soldiers whose lives were lost through tragic circumstances. Since 1982, 3,084 soldiers died as a result of what military investigators (1) say were self-inflicted causes. Some families, about 50 in number, of those who died disagree with these conclusions and how they were reached. I want to begin by speaking directly to these families. Regardless of the cause of death, you have suffered a searing loss. Your pain is harder to bear because the death was a shocking surprise, and because tough unanswered questions surround both the death and its subsequent investigation. I pray that you will find some closure, and that the healing process can begin. Some of you believe that in your pursuit of truth that you have not been fairly treated, especially in light of your great sacrifice. I hope that you will take from this hearing that this subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and indeed the Nation, recognize your loved ones as fallen comrades who volunteered to serve their country. All of us should agree that the deceased soldiers and surviving families, the military services, and the Nation, deserve a thorough, professional investigation of these tragic deaths. Further, we should all agree that families who have lost loved ones deserve fair and sensitive treatment, and the best answers to their questions about how their loved ones died. I regret to say this has not always happened. I have personally read all of the testimony that families gave to this subcommittee as of Monday of this week. I have also read the testimony of the military investigators and a report from the Defense Department's Inspector General. Are there problems in some of these cases? In my view, yes. Do military investigators sometimes appear insensitive to grieving families? Regrettably, yes. What else explains a family who received three different versions of their son's death? Is there a rush to judgment in some investigations? Yes. In one case investigators failed to take fingerprints from the weapons later determined to be the cause of death. In another case a family reports that investigators said their son, a Marine, was shot with two different weapons. Yet the family and their investigative consultant say the county sheriff's department did not find the second wound to the victim's stomach until after their initial determination the victim died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. This also raises the question of jurisdiction. Are military investigators sometimes arrogant? Personal property of dead soldiers has been withheld, misplaced, stolen, or destroyed. In one case a service man had unprocessed film in his camera, but that film was destroyed and never given to the family, understandably curious about the last pictures that their son had taken. In another case, investigators lost a pen that investigators claim was used to write an alleged suicide note. Do military investigators sometimes reach conclusions that I think are not supported by the facts? In my view as a layman, yes. But there is another side to this issue, and it is a perspective that deserves to be heard. Those who investigate these deaths have a difficult, thankless, grizzly task. Just as there is no perfect law or perfect hearing or perfect news story, there is no perfect crime investigation. But the truth is that the vast majority of these cases are investigated thoroughly and professionally and grieving families are treated sensitively. These investigators deserve recognition for a job well done. A written statement from a former New York City police officer who, even though he is the expert consultant for a family critical of the military investigation into the death of their son, recognizes that, and I quote, in some cases the officers who conduct the investigations did so in an exemplary manner, unquote. I want to talk about what this hearing is and is not. This is an oversight hearing of the implementation of a law Congress passed in 1993. That law directed the Secretary of Defense who tasked the Inspector General to review the adequacy of the procedures used by the military to investigate these deaths. That law also gave family members who lost loved ones the opportunity to request the Inspector General to reinvestigate their loved ones cause of death and subsequent investigation. More than 50 families did so. We will hear testimony from five of these families. We will also hear from officials of the military investigative services responsible for these investigations, and from the Inspector General who reviewed the procedures, and is now investigating individual cases. This hearing is an opportunity to create a record, to hear both sides of a tough issue, to review the procedures of the military investigative services, to determine if they have the resources necessary to do their jobs, and if additional corrective legislative steps are necessary. We will hear from families who have lost loved ones, and determine how procedures can be improved so that other families will be spared unnecessary pain. Now let me explain what this hearing is not. This hearing is not a coroner's inquest. It is not a trial. This hearing will not reach a conclusion about the cause of death in these cases, and whether each and every investigation reached the right conclusion. As a Senator who respects the sacrifice of those soldiers and their families who serve our country, I wish that this subcommittee could resolve forever all the hard questions that families have. But the truth is we do not have the expertise to reach those conclusions. That is why Congress authorized the Defense Department's Inspector General to reinvestigate these cases. What we can do is establish a hearing record, make sure we hear all views, learn the lessons that experience teaches, and determine what changes are needed in the future. If the practices, procedures, and training of our military investigators are not exemplary, we must assure the shortcomings are corrected. If the family notification, casualty assistance, and public affairs procedures are not adequate or not sensitive to the needs of grieving families, we must ensure that these policies and procedures are corrected. But where truly good work is done by the services, we should commend it. For those of you who will not be testifying today in person, you are invited to submit written testimony. We have already received 29 such statements. The record will be kept open for 1 week, and these statements will be made a part of the record of the hearing. [See end of record for these statements.] Some of the statements from family members included their home addresses and phone numbers. Since the record of this hearing will be a public document, we will redact the addresses and phone numbers to protect the families. No other editing or changes will be made to the statements submitted by family members. Senator KEMPTHORNE. Senator Nunn, who is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has intended to join us today, and hopefully he will be able to at some point, but he is heavily involved in the work on the chemical weapons convention which the Senate is currently considering. I also believe other Senators will be coming by. At this time, I enter into the record the statements of Senator John McCain and Senator Rod Grams. PREPARED STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN Mr. Chairman, I whole heartedly express my support for this extremely tragic and emotional issue. The loss of a family member for any reason is difficult enough in itself, but to learn that the death was self inflicted compounds the heartache. Suicide has been on the rise in recent years and the military is no exception. Only recently has it been highlighted by the death of Admiral Jeremy “Mike” Boorda, United States Navy, former Chief of Naval Operations. He was an outstanding officer and a good friend who will be sorely missed. This tragic incident brings to light the fact that if the most senior individual in one of the services is susceptible to this problem, anybody can be at risk. Mr. Chairman, as a pilot in the United States Navy many years ago, I was exposed to the death of several of my fellow aviators. These men did not hesitate risking their lives for our great Nation. It was hard enough to accept the loss of these men while performing their duty in both peace and war. The men and women of the armed forces continue to make sacrifices day after day to protect the democratic values and freedom we so fortunately enjoy in our great Nation. The extended deployments and hardships they and their families endure are no small feat. These patriotic men and women in the military are occasionally called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. The fact that some of these same men and women are so troubled that they are willing to take their own life is extremely disturbing to me. We must do our part to provide support for both the troubled individuals and their families. We must ensure adequate medical treatment is available to combat this terrifying problem to help prevent future incidents. We must also ensure that the families have our complete cooperation and support should they become involved in such a tragedy. PREPARED STATEMENT BY SENATOR ROD GRAMS Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this important hearing. I appreciate this opportunity to testify. I want to bring to your attention three Minnesota 1185 military cases. Jan Beimdiek is from Moorhead, Minnesota and her son, Navy HM3 Scott Michael Beimdiek died while serving his country. Scott was a Hospital Corpsman stationed in Okinawa. He was found dead in his room on January 25, 1993. His body was discovered in a room that was locked from the outside. A time of death has never been established. The Beimdiek family was informed by the Navy that Scott died an "accidental" death. The family believed the Navy until irregularities started to surface which caused the family to ask questions. They contacted the Department of Defense and became one of the 50 cases under active 1185 investigation. That was in December of 1993. Two investigators have taken testimony from Mrs. Beimdiek, traveled to Okinawa to visit the scene and re-checked the opinions of contributing experts. The Department of Defense Inspector General has not written the final report. I appreciate the efforts made by the Department, but I have concerns about the length of time the Department is taking to resolve this case. Through Congressional oversight, I hope to find a resolution to her situation. I urge the Department to respond to all of the questions of the Beimdiek family in the near future. The second family I wish to discuss is the Sabow family. The late Colonel James Sabow's brother, Tom, lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Colonel Sabow was a 29-year veteran of the Marine Corps and served as the Assistant Chief of Staff at El Toro Marine Corps Air base in California during the Gulf War. He was found in his backyard, fatally wounded by a shotgun blast in the mouth. The Marine Corps determined this was a death by "suicide”. The evidence calls into question that conclusion. Col. Sabow was privy to information which alleged high level criminal activity in the Marine Corps. Col. Sabow was ready to share this information with investigators and indicated a willingness to risk court martial. There have been three investigations by the military into this case. It has not been determined whether the FBI has been involved. The case has been before two federal courts and recently received a decision which allows the Sabows to continue to pursue the case in court. There's an old saying "if you can't refute, confuse" and I'm concerned that may be the military's position with regard to this case. Bob Buttz is the Uncle of the Late Navy FN Tommy Buttz, the third Minnesotan I wish to discuss today. Tommy was found hanging in a locked room aboard the USS Pyro. The Navy prohibited Mr. Buttz from visiting the Pyro for 3 years before he could actually see the room where his nephew died. There was a discrepancy as to what room Tommy actually died in, one on the upper deck or in a lower deck room. The Navy's theory was that Tommy had padlocked the only door to the room from the outside and then climbed into the room through a window. However, when the discovery was made that he was found dead in the lower deck room, that theory was questioned, because there were only portholes in that room not large enough for anyone to climb through. The conclusions of the Department of the Navy do not coincide with the evidence. The families of the deceased, who served this country are being treated unfairly. Mr. Chairman, I have some concerns about whether these cases should be investigated by the military. Senator DeConcini in 1994 proposed an amendment to the 1995 Defense Authorization bill which would have established an independent investigative entity responsible for handling military sexual harassment cases. This concept could be expanded to investigate non-combat deaths. An independent review board could provide an unbiased investigation. Both the IG and the JAG report up through the military and civilian command and do not have the independence necessary to answer the difficult questions of grieving families. I intend to pursue independent review board legislation in the next session of Congress and hope that my colleagues will consider this option as a far better way to investigate these deaths. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee on this matter in the 105th Congress. With that, our first panel consists of Members of Congress: Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressman Sam Brownback, if our two congressmen would please come forward. Congressman Pallone, from New Jersey, if you would like to begin. STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN FRANK PALLONE FROM NEW JERSEY Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We heard you promoting us to Senator almost for a moment there. [Laughter.] I wanted to first thank you so much for having this hearing today of your subcommittee. I have to start out by saying that about 3 years ago Congressman Dave Levy and I began a joint effort to have Congress and the DOD recognize deficiencies and correct the findings in investigations that have been conducted into the deaths of certain servicemen, our constituents, who are alleged to have died by their own hand. We were joined in this effort by many other members of Congress and their own constituents, family members who had been devastated by similar losses. These families joined together in an informal organization that is represented here today. They provided the motivation that resulted in enactment of section 1185 to the fiscal year 1994 DOD authorization bill which directed preparation of the report that this committee addresses today. I wanted to submit a summary, I believe you already have it, of my findings from the study of approximately 80 cases of unattended, not-combat military deaths, and I would like to submit that at this time. |