An Army four-star general suspended after allegations that he tried to pressure an Army selection board to help a protege has written the Secretary of the Army demanding reinstatement. Army Materiel Command commander General Charles Hamilton is currently suspended from command pending the outcome of an investigation, wrote Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, saying that not only did he not interfere, but he was attempting to prevent an injustice to a female officer that has worked for him for years by fighting institutional racism.
In Hamilton’s letter, written last week, the four-star general asked to be reinstated as the head of Army Materiel Command, and he laid out his case in both the lieutenant colonel’s promotion and his view on the CAP process.
“Removing photographs from personnel files and providing unconscious bias training for panelists is not enough,” Hamilton wrote in an Aug. 16 letter to Wortmuth. “By the time a Minority officer sits before a Command Assessment Program panel, the bias and racism that exists in our Army culture is already cemented into evaluation reports, peer assessments, and opinions of decision makers.”
Hamilton wrote that he was always open and transparent about advocating for the lieutenant colonel, whom Task & Purpose is not identifying because there is no evidence she violated any Army policies. He also denied using his rank and position to give the lieutenant colonel an unfair advantage over other officers. He noted that he has advocated in favor of many officers during his 43-year Army career, including white officers, but that this is the first time he has been accused of favoritism.
The tone of Hamilton’s letter suggests that he expects Wormuth to act against him after the IG report is finalized.
“I acknowledge you may nonetheless take adverse action against me even though my advocacy for Minority leaders like [the lieutenant colonel] has been completely transparent and above board,” Hamilton wrote. “Regardless of what decision you make regarding my fate, I implore you to investigate why the Command Assessment Program deems so few Minority officers as ready for command and what barriers exist that make qualified Black officers unwilling to subject themselves to that process”
I posted earlier on Hamilton’s suspension from command: Four-Star General Suspended and Under IG Investigation for Tampering With Command Selection Board.
Military Times broke the story on Tuesday, and on Friday, the Army Secretary suspended Hamilton from command and yanked his favorite from the promotion list.
One of the officers selected for battalion command was an unnamed female lieutenant colonel who worked for General Hamilton as his military assistant and assistant executive officer. When she went through the selection process, the board declined her with a vote of 0-5 for having “counterproductive” leadership traits.
Hamilton sprang into action.
Hamilton immediately asked for the lieutenant colonel to be re-paneled, effectively getting another chance — an unheard-of move, according to some Army officials familiar with the process. Officers who fail typically have to wait a year to try again.
[Director of the Army Command Assessment Program, Col. Robert] O’Brien granted the repanel “solely based” on Hamilton’s request, according to his own memo. However, Col. Townley Hedrick, chief of staff of the Command Assessment Program, told the lieutenant colonel she was being re-paneled due to “technical issues,” the memo added.
It’s unclear what technical issues would warrant a redo of an assessment panel. The next day, Hamilton called Hedrick, thanking him for “playing a part” in re-paneling the lieutenant colonel.
Between the first panel and the redo, Hamilton called three different panel members — Maj. Gens. Jeth Rey, Trevor Bredenkamp and Hope Rampy — to discuss the lieutenant colonel, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Military.com. Panelists are supposed to be anonymous to avoid lobbying, one Army official explained, and are often finalized just hours before a panel as a safeguard.
Throughout the morning of the second panel, Hamilton repeatedly sent text messages and called senior assessment staff, including Hedrick and O’Brien, asking about interview results, O’Brien explained in his memo.
At noon, the second panel was complete. The lieutenant colonel was again found unfit for command, but this time in a 2-3 vote, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. She was found to have “ineffective” and “counterproductive” leadership qualities.
Hamilton inquired about the results several additional times throughout the day until after 9 p.m. It’s unclear when, if ever, the results were formally shared with him.
As a note, the panel members are supposed to be anonymous to prevent this kind of tomfoolery, but someone leaked the names and phone numbers of the panel members to Hamilton so he could lobby them.
The fact that the program director wrote a memo complaining about Hamilton’s behavior is extraordinary. What is even more extraordinary is that he caved to the pressure to give this clearly unqualified officer a second chance and that other generals were afraid to say anything.
This was a pressure campaign. [Hamilton] has a lot of influence; this violated the integrity of how the best officers are selected to run units,” one general with direct knowledge of the situation told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. “This was abnormal; it was unprofessional. He should have known better.”
Things change, but there was a time when the Army had chiefs like John Wickham, Carl Vuono, Gordon Sullivan, and others who would have instantly vaporized the career of any general suspected of meddling with a promotion or selection board. For the centralized promotion system to work, it has to be credible. If generals call board members and throw their weight around to push favorites forward, the whole system fails. Once upon a time, everyone understood that.
Despite failing the selection board twice in 48 hours, somehow, her name appeared on the command selection list, depriving a more qualified officer of the opportunity.
Just some observations on this entire fiasco.
I served as an Army IG investigator for three years. I never encountered anyone engaged in epic misconduct who had not eased himself into that position with a series of baby steps. The panache with which Hamilton called members of the selection board on behalf of a particular officer is not something displayed the first time you do it. This is particularly true when meddling with a critical selection board strikes at the very heart of the integrity the system must have to be respected. Hopefully, the investigators are looking into other possible incidents of Hamiltion trying to influence a command selection board. Second, a male general breaking all known rules on behalf of a female subordinate looks like more was going on here than fighting racism unless that’s what the kids are calling it this week.
Hamilton’s charge of racism looks like it is something he dreamed up after the fact to dare Wormuth to fire him. The Army has 14 four-star billets. Four of those (29%) are held by Black officers. Blacks comprise just over 12% of the officer corps and 13% of the US population.
But beyond the single case of the Lt. Col., Hamilton’s letter lays out his belief that the CAP program disadvantages Black and other non-white candidates. He cited a selection rate for Black officers since the program’s inception that averaged close to 10% with a single yearly high of 15%, while the pool of candidates was 22% Black.
The universe of officers eligible for consideration for battalion-level command is about 11% Black, making the selection rate on par with the representation in the officer corps out of a pool of disproportionately Black candidates.
In short, given the public domain information available, there doesn’t seem to be any empirical evidence to support Hamilton’s claim that he was intervening to prevent an injustice to Black officers and a great deal of evidence to indicate that he was personally pushing the candidacy of one particular officer who happened to work directly for him and who appears to be totally unqualified to command.
If Wormuth removes Hamilton from command, the fallout from a liberal White woman sacking a Black man during an election year will make me a fortune in my popcorn futures investment.
