Report: General’s remarks in violation

WASHINGTON – A Defense Department investigation has determined that Lt. Gen. William Boykin, the Pentagon’s senior military intelligence official, violated three internal regulations while delivering controversial speeches that linked the war on terrorism to what he depicted as an enduring battle against Satan, according to a copy of the probe obtained Wednesday by the Washington Post.

The 10-month investigation, conducted by the department’s Deputy General Inspector for Investigations, confirmed news accounts that in his speeches, Boykin said that President Bush had been placed in his post by God, that radical Muslims hate America because it “will never abandon Israel,” and that the U.S. military is recruiting a spiritual army that will draw strength from a greater power to defeat its enemy.

Arab and Muslim groups sharply criticized these remarks when they were publicized last year, accusing Boykin of bigotry. Sen. Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner, R-Va., and the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., demanded an inquiry and called for Boykin to step down while it proceeded.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking at the time, praised Boykin for “an outstanding record” and kept him in his post. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers also defended Boykin and told reporters that “at first blush, it doesn’t look like any rules were broken” because “there is a very wide gray area of what (they) … permit.”

The inspector’s report, which is dated Aug. 5 but has not been released by the Pentagon, concludes otherwise. It found that Boykin improperly failed to obtain clearance for his remarks, failed to clarify that his remarks were personal and not official, and improperly failed to report reimbursement of travel costs from one of the sponsoring religious groups.

“We recommend that the Acting Secretary of the Army take appropriate corrective action with respect to LTG Boykin,” the report said. But it added that the Army should also take into consideration as a “mitigating factor” that Boykin said he repeatedly asked military lawyers about the propriety of making the speeches and he recalled no one advising him to obtain advance clearance for his remarks.

The report said investigators accepted that Boykin made these legal consultations in “good faith.”

Although it was Boykin’s remarks and not his regard for Pentagon rules that aroused controversy, the report steered clear of any comment on the appropriateness of Boykin’s injection of religion into his depiction of the military’s counter-terrorism efforts, including his claims that a “demonic presence” lay behind the actions of radical Muslims.

The report said senior officials could assess Boykin’s judgment or fitness for his job as deputy undersecretary for Intelligence and War-Fighting Support, in which he coordinates all defense intelligence activities, oversees training, and determines the allocation of intelligence resources.

The probe determined that Boykin spoke about his involvement in the war on terror at 23 religious-oriented events since January 2002, wearing his uniform in all but two of these. His audiences – mostly at Baptist or Pentecostal churches – ranged from small groups to more than 1,000.

Boykin should have obtained clearance for his remarks, the report said, partly because his remarks were drawn from information he acquired on the job, what he said was potentially of wide interest and relevant to national security policy, and his uniform and title could have induced listeners to believe he was acting as an official department spokesman.

The senior Pentagon official said, however, that it is not regular practice for top defense officials to submit speeches of a personal nature for review and clearance.