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Calls for more oversight, punishment after major military disasters

November 14, 2023

Leo Shane III

Military Times

Navy officials tour the tunnels of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii on Dec. 23, 2021, after a leak discovering contamination of military family's drinking water was discovered. (MCS1 Luke McCall/Navy)

 

By Leo Shane III, Military Times / November 14, 2023

A senior Democratic senator is pushing Defense Department leaders to create new processes to investigate disasters within the military in an effort to better prevent other tragedies in the future.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Tuesday, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said the current way such major mishaps are handled by service investigators does not provide enough oversight or instill public confidence in the response.

She wants a new, independent system to ensure “significant changes to address the underlying causes of the mishap and the culture that permitted them to occur.” That would include the firing of troops or civilians involved in the mistakes and possible punishment for service chiefs and secretaries.

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