Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 20:26:20 -0600
From: ACTION ALERT Moderator 
Subject: ACTION ALERT: U.S. Navy

[ submitted by SLDN ]

March 26, 1998

ACTION ALERT:

NAVY SAYS IT WILL NOT REINSTATE MCVEIGH AS CHIEF OF BOAT BECAUSE OF "CONFINED
CONDITIONS ABOARD SUB"

NAVY HAS UNTIL MARCH 30 TO DECIDE WHETHER TO APPEAL MCVEIGH CASE

  The Navy and Department Of Justice have until Monday, March 30 to appeal the
decision in McVeigh v. Cohen.  They should not.  And you should let members of
the Administration and Department of Defense know that you are watching this
case carefully and urge them to not appeal the decision.  

  Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy McVeigh is the senior enlisted nuclear
submariner whom the Navy attempted to discharge for allegedly using the word
"gay" in an anonymous America Online user profile.  The Navy attempted to
verify McVeigh's identity by surreptitiously and illegally obtaining
subscriber information from America Online.  On January 26, 1998, Judge
Stanley Sporkin ruled that the Navy "violated the very essence of 'Don't Ask'
and 'Don't Pururse' by launching a search and destroy mission."

  The Navy has taken a hard line since Sporkin's ruling, refusing to reinstate
McVeigh to the position of Chief of Boat he held prior to the Navy's "search
and destroy mission."  The Navy's intransigence reached a new extreme today.

  David Glass of the Department of Justice reportedly told Federal District
Court Judge Stanley Sporkin that the Navy will not reinstate McVeigh as Chief
of Boat because of the "confined conditions aboard the nuclear submarine."
The DOJ statements are extreme and out of step with Adminstration policy.  The
position also defies a federal court order that the Navy restore McVeigh to
the position he held before the Navy's illegality.

  The Administration has the opportunity to right this ship.  Please weigh in.

President William J. Clinton, email: president@whitehouse.gov;  voice: (202)
456-1111; snail:  White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC
20500

Vice-President Albert Gore, vicepresident@whitehouse.gov, White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC  20500

Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, whitehouse@federal.gov, White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC  20500; (202) 456-1414

Secretary of Defense William Cohen, comment via DoD web page:
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html;  voice: (703) 695-5261;  fax:
(703) 695-1219;  snail:  1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-1000  

-- 
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