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Date Posted: 16:54:33 06/28/00 Wed
Author: �� 
Subject: �� -��
In reply to: �� 's message, "�� " on 14:53:22 06/28/00 Wed

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Stars and Stripes
Thursday, April 6, 2000

AF OFFICER FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST MARSHALL CENTER

BY CINDY ELMORE Stuttgart bureau

GARMISCH, Germany ﷓ In the second such case of its kind at the Marshall Center, an Air Force lieutenant colonel has asked the top U.S. commanding general in Europe to correct what he said is career retribution against him by his superiors at the school.

Lt. Col. Timothy Killam contends that he was directed by the center's just﷓departed deputy director. retired Lt. Gen. John Otjen , to secretly report on the German colonel for whom Killam worked, then was made the scapegoat when the colonel learned of the mission.

Killam says that once the ruse was discovered, his one﷓year extension at the Marshall Center was curtailed, psychiatrists at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center were asked to evaluate his fitness for duty, and Killam was given a poor performance evaluation without any prior counseling or indication of problems.

The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies runs a language school, sponsors regional security conferences, and teaches courses to hundreds of military officers and civilians mostly from former Eastern bloc nations about how to run their militaries in a democratic system.

"Certainly, the Marshall Center supports anyone's right to seek redress for what they consider a grievance." said Mari K. Eder, spokeswoman for the Marshall Center.
However, both she and 0tjen denied that Otjen directed Killam to �spy� on German Col. Franz Xaver Lauterer, the chief of the school's conference center division. "I can tell you that that does not take place," Eder said.

Killam's performance review is a matter for the Air Force personnel system, Eder added. And the curtailment of Killam's one﷓year extension was done at the recommendation of the Marshall Center "in the best interests" of both the school and Killarn, she said.

She would not address the psychological evaluation except to say that Killam went to Landstuhl voluntarily.
Killam acknowledges that he had been complaining about his workload and stress﷓induced chest pains. But he said that while he was at Landstuhl, the Marshall Center's chief of staff, Col. Daniel Willison, formally requested a report of Killam's fitness for duty, changing the tenor of his medical review.

Killam has filed a complaint with the Department of Defense inspector general. And on Friday, Killam presented an appeal for redress under Article 138 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The article allows any member of the armed forces "who believes himself wronged by his or her commanding officer" to complain to any superior officer.

Otjen declined to comment further about Killam's allegations because the matter is before the inspector general. Lauterer is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

In a 1994 case involving the center, Marine Corps Col. Ernest Beinhart filed a similar complaint invoking the same UCMJ rule. After a series of appeals, the Defense Department general counsel and deputy secretary decided that Beinhart couldn't use Article 138 because the Marshall Center director is a civilian.

Their ruling essentially meant that military officers anywhere who work for civilians do not have the same legal protections available to them as other military officers under the UCMJ.

Beinhart tried for years, in writing, to get the European Command or Department of Defense to tell him who his superior officer was at the Marshall Center, but he never received an answer. In 1997, Beinhart filed a second complaint under the article, naming European Command commanding general George Joulwan as his superior officer.
Beinhart's allegations were refuted when the general had the case investigated. Yet, further questions arose because the investigator was a brigadier general who was of lower rank than the Marshall Center's civilian director whom he was investigating ﷓which is a violation of Army regulations.

Killam, 41 is a 23 year Air Force veteran who began his career in the enlisted ranks. He was assigned to the Marshall Center in July 1997 after learning Russian at the Defense Language Institute. He has a stack of written accolades and evaluations for his performance at the Marshall Center, including a 1999 letter from Otjen recommending him for astronaut training. Because he is the only active﷓duty Russian speaking space operations officer in the Air Force, Killam said he was urged by the Air Force to apply, but he failed the NASA eye examination.

Killam said his poor performance evaluation came less than three weeks after he had been shown the vastly different draft of a positive performance evaluation signed by Willison and Otjen. Killam contends the evaluation was changed as retribution against him. When he asked to see any written material that would support the poor review, Killam said he was refused. He was allowed to read some of it only after filing a request under �the Freedom of Information Act�.
That's when Killarn said he discovered much of the material used against him was inaccurate.

"They made a decision to re move me ... and then they conspired to create a paper trail," Killam said, adding that positive letters were removed from his file.

Pentagon officials said they are aware of the gap in the military legal structure that makes it difficult for military personnel who work for civilians to file Article 138 complaints, but say the infrequency and unique circumstances, of such situations precludes them from crafting an overarching policy to cover it.

"It's a very complex issue," said Lt. Col. Catherine Abbott, a Pentagon spokeswoman, who added that it is not limited to the Marshall Center. "We deal with each case individually in trying to ensure that everyone receives a fair and impartial hearing."

Beinhart, who has been battling the Defense Department for six years, said that response is "consistent with the kind of evasion that has characterized my sequence of events that began in '94.

"The Defense Department has dodged and weaved behind every obstacle that could be placed in the path of a fair and open hearing," Beinhart said. "What they're saying, in effect, is that they're just not going to grant due process."
Killam also has written to all 24 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as his two home﷓state senators, requesting open hearings or a General Accounting Office investigation into � a long﷓standing pattern of personal abuses and legal irregularities � at the Marshall Center.

Staff writer Chuck Vinch contributed to this report.
E﷓mail Cindy Elmore at: elmorec@mall.estripes.osd.mil

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