Top US naval intelligence officers under investigation in bribery probe
Top naval intelligence chiefs placed on leave in investigation into scandal involving alleged US$10 million fraud by Malaysian defence contractor
Two US admirals - including the director of naval intelligence - are under investigation as part of a major bribery scandal involving an Asian defence contractor, US Navy officials announced.
Vice Admiral Ted "Twig" Branch, the service's top intelligence officer, and rear admiral Bruce Loveless, the navy's director of intelligence operations, were placed on leave on Friday and their access to classified material was suspended.
Both admirals are being investigated for their ties to a Singapore-based defence contractor, Glenn Defence Marine Asia, whose chief executive was arrested in September on charges that he bribed other navy officers into giving him classified or privileged information in exchange for prostitutes and cash.
Two navy commanders and a senior Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent have already been arrested, and a captain was relieved of his ship's command last month in connection with the case.
But the announcement that two admirals in charge of protecting the navy's secrets have been swept up in the investigation makes the crisis the worst to tar the navy since the 1991 Tailhook scandal, when a convention of naval aviators sexually assaulted scores of women.
Navy officials said they were bracing for even more bad news to emerge from the corruption case that has expanded swiftly since it became public in September. "We do believe that other naval officers will likely be implicated in this scandal," said rear admiral John Kirby, the navy's chief spokesman.