The Biden Pentagon reportedly worked behind the scenes to throw out investigation findings into wrongdoings committed by a top commander, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
The California National Guard’s investigation — conducted with dozens of confidential interviews and an extensive examination of records and documents — focused on the conduct of Col. Lisa Nemeth after she was appointed commander of the 146th Airlift Wing in California in 2020, according to the Times. The investigation revealed Nemeth had tried to keep a pilot from getting fired after he was arrested for drunk driving, asked her subordinates to conduct her personal errands and created a culture of poor morale at the wing.
But the investigation was never fully completed because it was ripped up by the Pentagon in 2022, according to the Times.
The Pentagon’s choice to reject the probe’s findings was preceded by a June 2022 phone call to Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, the then-adjutant general heading the California Military Department, placed by then-Lt. Gen. Michael Loh, director of the Air National Guard for the U.S, according to the Times. Loh told Baldwin in a voicemail message that he thought the investigation’s findings was incorrect in its findings and should be redone by a woman, appearing to suggest that sexism played a role in complaints against her.
But the inspector general who conducted the investigation was a woman, according to the Times. Loh noted in the voicemail that Nemeth was about to join his staff.
“I’m really asking you to re-look at the whole thing,” Loh told Baldwin, according to the Times. “I guess she went in there and did some cleanup work and now a bunch of (inspector general) complaints… This is about the third one in Guard Nation where there’s allegations of toxic climate by females and of course that’s getting the highest scrutiny … Gimme a call back or if not, just please take a look at this case.”
A California guard spokesman told the Times that sexism was not a factor and that the inspector general responsible for crafting the investigation hadn’t had a case overturned in a decade. Dwight Stirling, a former judge advocate for the California guard, told the Times that Loh’s request was inappropriate because he “had picked this officer and didn’t want the misconduct that she engaged in to derail her career.”
Baldwin ultimately denied Loh’s request and kept the investigation open, according to the Times. But then the Washington, D.C.-based national Air Force inspector general reversed the California inspector’s findings and threw out the case, because it “did not identify actions, decisions, or omissions that seriously compromised Col. Nemeth’s character or standing as an officer.”
Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, who succeeded Baldwin as head of the California Guard in 2022, wrote to the Air Force inspector general in a 2022 memo reviewed by the Times that he was stunned and puzzled by the decision to discard the investigation.
“Quite frankly, it is perplexing to comprehend how the Air Force IG summarily non-concurs with all four substantiated allegations, especially given the lack of any new evidence,” Beevers wrote. “This superficial dismissal of this substantiated allegation defies the basic precepts of good order in discipline in a military command while establishing a new, disturbing precedent.”
The Air Force inspector general told Beevers in response that the evidence did not support the investigation’s findings and that it needed to be closed because it had been open for more than two years.
Among the scrapped investigation’s findings, which have not previously been reported, was that the wing’s firefighting pilot team, who flies air tankers to fight large-scale wildfires, felt that Nemeth wasn’t prioritizing crucial training for dangerous operations, according to a review of internal documents by the Times. The firefighting program is largely voluntary, but staffing for the team fell to an all-time low under Nemeth’s command, which she failed to relay to her superiors.
“The recurring perception of Col. Nemeth being more concerned with her ‘report card’ than the morale and welfare of her airmen, is lent credence by this omission to senior leadership,” the investigation reads, according to a review by the Times.
Pilots who were interviewed for the investigation said that morale among the team was low.
“Guys were coming to me just livid and saying they’re not gonna fly … they’re not gonna volunteer for any more trips ‘cause as long as, you know, if leadership doesn’t care about them, then why should they care about the place,” one pilot said, according to a review of the transcript of his interview by the Times.
“The recurring perception of Col. Nemeth being more concerned with her ‘report card’ than the morale and welfare of her airmen, is lent credence by this omission to senior leadership,” the investigation found, according to the Times.
Nemeth also worked to keep the position of her second-in-command after he was arrested for suspicion of driving drunk and crashing into an electrical pole in 2021, according to a review of the investigation by the Times. He was allowed to start flying for the wing two months after his arrest, contributing to poor morale.
She was also accused of making her subordinates take care of her dog while at work, even though dogs aren’t allowed at the wing except for official purposes, according to the Times. In one instance outlined in the investigation, the dog urinated on the carpet and a flight surgeon had to get supplies to clean it up; in another taxpayer funds were used to buy cleaning supplies, including air fans and a carpet-cleaning vacuum.
The Air Force inspector general did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
