Major General Gary Patton out in DOD sexual assault post

Gary Patton out in DOD sexual assault post
Politico
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN
12/16/13

Major General Gary Patton (AP)

The Pentagon’s top sexual assault prevention official is stepping down next month amid an internal investigation that he intimidated whistleblowers during a previous stint in Afghanistan.

Maj. Gen. Gary Patton is set to retire in the spring after a 35-year Army career that culminated as director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. There, he’s been in the direct line of fire as members of Congress have pushed the Defense Department to make big changes in how it deals with sexual predators in its ranks.

Patton had been the subject of an internal Army review into patient abuse and corruption at a U.S.-funded Afghan hospital and questions over whether he tried to keep staffers from talking with investigators.

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel agreed to let another Army commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, quietly retire over the same whistleblower incident.
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