Cavanaugh, Col. William J., AUS (Ret.): Oral statement Doherty, Brig. Gen. Daniel A., USA, Commanding General, U.S. Army Crimi- 171 Oral statement ............. Ball, Arlene, Mother of PFC James V. Gardner, USMC (III) Carnevale, Richard N., Sr., Father of LCPL Richard N. Carnevale, Jr., Page 163 164 166 209 155 170 216 169 148 169 217 171 142 ....... Evans, Don O., Father of SR Stephen Paul Evans, USN Gallagher, Mary J., Mother of SA Todd A. Gallagher, USN ........ Glander, Sylvia, Mother of S. Sgt. Thomas L. Bullington, USAF Kumpf, Shirley J. Kumpf-Knight and Kenneth W., D.D.S., Parents of Aaron Kusila, Patricia, Mother of PFC Steven J. Amato, USA Lahey, Buster and Melody, Parents of A1C David Travis Harper, USAF Macchioni, W.E. and L.T., Parents of Lt. Rodney Ernest Macchioni, USN ... O'Brien, Dennis B., Sr. and Mary L. O'Brien, Parents of MMFN Dennis Prepared statement ..... 175 Additional statement 206 Plunkett, Kenneth and Kathleen, Parents of Shawn A. Plunkett, USA 210 212 Quick, Wayne F. and Nancy, Parents of CPT Wayne F. Quick, Jr., USA: 213 Addendum to prepared statement 215 Short, Kathy and Richard, Parents of Seaman William M. Short, USCG 244 123 Thompson, Dodge D., Father of AT3 David Alan Thompson, USN 249 Vanderbur, Lois, Mother of 2nd Lt. Kirk C. Vanderbur, USMCR 250 Wanke, Edward and Marie, Parents of PFC Patrick A. Wanke, USA: 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, 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 |