E-mail messages of a suggestive, sexual nature are at the center of a U.S. military investigation into whether the top general in the Connecticut National Guard had an improper relationship with a female sergeant.
The continuing Pentagon probe has focused for months on whether state Maj. Gen. William A. Cugno has had a relationship with, or provided favorable treatment to, Kristine Shaw, a chief master sergeant in the Connecticut Air National Guard. Shaw has traveled repeatedly with Cugno and others on military trips.
The probe, conducted by the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Defense, could have serious consequences because the military has strict rules against fraternization between superior officers and subordinates. Fraternization charges have ended many a military career - including that of a previous Connecticut adjutant general two decades ago.
Cugno's job is a combination of the military and the political. Cugno, 56, was appointed the state military department's adjutant general in June 1999 by then-Gov. John G. Rowland. He and the Connecticut National Guard are responsible both to the governor of the state and the federal military chain of command, depending on the circumstances.
In an interview Tuesday, Shaw denied any close or improper relationship with Cugno. Both are married.
"I think it's pretty nuts," she said. "I never felt like he wanted a relationship, or he implied a relationship. As a matter of fact he would yell at me as much as he yelled at everyone else."
She said others in the National Guard have resented that she has worked closely with Cugno. "I'm not the only one with a direct line to him," she said, but all the others are men. "I am a female, and there are a lot of jealousies."
She confirmed that a military investigator had spoken to her for about an hour last October. The investigator asked about suggestive e-mails, she said, but did not dwell on it long - and seemed as interested in how she got along with the person who she thinks brought the e-mails to the attention of superiors. She would not name that person.
She also said the questions included a number of subjects not involving her, which she declined to discuss.
Shaw did acknowledge sending at least one e-mail with suggestive language to Cugno, but she said it was a bogus, intentionally provocative message designed to expose someone within the state military who she thought was snooping into e-mails sent by her and a few others who were close to Cugno.
The Courant has obtained a printout of one purported e-mail exchange between Kristine Shaw and Cugno, dated March 1 of last year. In it, Shaw purportedly wrote Cugno that "it will be important to be able to have enough time for at least 3 or 4 times," with later language in the brief message becoming more suggestive.
Shaw said Tuesday that she did not remember the exact wording, but believed the printout sent to The Courant was genuine.
The printout also included a reply sent to Shaw soon after her suggestive message. The two-word message - "I promise" - appeared to have come from Cugno's military e-mail account and bore an electronic signature indicating it had been sent over his Blackberry wireless communication device.
Shaw said she recalls a conversation in which she told Cugno and his executive officer, Maj. Francis Evon, of her plan to smoke out the snooper - but she said she could not recall whether she told them what she intended to say.
Asked why she made her e-mail sexually suggestive, she asked "what else do you think would get [the] attention" of the person she suspected of monitoring her e-mails.
Asked why Cugno would have replied as the printout indicates he did, she said the question needed to be directed to the general. She said after copies of an explicit e-mail - apparently the one sent to The Courant - began circulating among Guard members, Cugno wrote her a letter of reprimand.
Shaw said if she had it to do over, she would "never, never, never" have sent such e-mails to elicit a revealing reaction from someone who was reading her messages. "It ruined my life for a very long time."
Asked Tuesday about Shaw's recollection that she had advised him of her e-mail plan, Evon declined to comment. Repeated requests to Cugno for comment were answered Tuesday by Capt. Timothy J. Tomcho, the judge advocate for the National Guard.
Tomcho said Army protocol prohibits anyone from talking about continuing investigations. "When such matters are under investigation strict prohibitions exist limiting the ability of servicemen to discuss investigations until they're over with," he said.
The governor's office was informed months ago of an inspector general's investigation, M. Lisa Moody, Gov. M. Jodi Rell's chief of staff, confirmed Tuesday night. Moody said Rell is awaiting a report on the probe, and declined further comment.
The Courant submitted a freedom of information request more than a month ago for all of Cugno and Shaw's travel records over the past few years as well as e-mails between the two. The documents have been turned over to federal officials, who have not released the information.
Gary Comerford, the public affairs officer for the Department of Defense's inspector general's office in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday he would not confirm or deny that an investigation of Cugno is continuing. He said the agency doesn't release information on investigations until a final report is completed.
Shaw said that since about 2002 she has traveled to several National Guard functions around the country with Cugno and others. Cugno, more than past heads of the National Guard, has moved aggressively to involve the Air National Guard in more things, and there was "a lot that needed to get done." She said she has a facility with writing, and has prepared speeches and eulogies that the general has delivered even though that is not a requirement for her job as a personnel administrator for the Air National Guard.
She said she and others have traveled ahead of Cugno to events such as "leadership conferences" to set things up for him.
Shaw, 38, works in the administrative headquarters of the Air National Guard, and her personnel responsibilities include processing paperwork when military personnel are appointed, promoted, transferred or deployed.
Although Shaw was reluctant to discuss specifics of the inspector general's investigation, her husband, Timothy Shaw, a master sergeant in the Air National Guard's military security unit, said some of the questions apparently had to do with how much direct contact Cugno had with Kristine Shaw. The investigators suggested that the natural chain of command would have been through her immediate superior, Col. Thomas Heath, he said.
The reason Cugno went directly to Kristine Shaw was that she worked faster and more efficiently, her husband said, adding, "She's being convicted of not saying no" to the administrative tasks Cugno brought her.
Since the investigation began in late summer or early fall of last year, the administrative office in which Shaw works has been moved from the National Guard headquarters at the State Armory in Hartford to offices in Newington. Kristine Shaw said the move was coincidental, but has been a relief.
Military rules against fraternization between superiors and subordinates are extremely strict - for reasons including the fact that a senior officer such as Cugno could make decisions that could drastically affect the well-being of subordinates, including sending them into harm's way.
That would not appear to be an issue in this case. Although two units within the Air National Guard - the 103rd Fighter Wing of East Granby and the 103rd Air Control Squadron of Orange - have been deployed in either Afghanistan or Iraq, Kristine Shaw is not a member of either. She is part of a headquarters unit that military sources say would not typically be deployed to a combat area.
Kristine Shaw was assigned to her current administrative duties about the same time Cugno became adjutant general in 1999, but she said he had nothing to do with it. In 2002, she said, she received a promotion in rank to her current classification of E-9, the highest enlisted rank. She said Cugno probably had to sign off on it, but he did not push it and she had appeared before a military board to obtain it.
The problem of improper fraternization has arisen in Connecticut before, with serious consequences. In 1985 a previous state adjutant general, John F. Gore, was forced to resign by then-Gov. William A. O'Neill after an inspector general's probe found that he had a relationship with a female subordinate, whom he later married.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics...lines-politics
Originally Posted by brembo
I'm not going to lie I didn't read the article as I don't care about the Connecticut National Guard. Judging by the number of replies in this thread nobody else does either. In the interest of making this thread useful to somebody it is now about Star Wars. Thank you and have a nice day.
Respect it.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Have your feelings been hurt by a random act of E-Thuggery? If so, call 1-800-Waaaaahmbulance, we're here 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, to take your call, you could be due a large monetary settlement, don't delay, call now.
"Please be careful prior to entering the world wide web, the internet is serious business"
Guys with pink walls should not throw out the starwars bomb.
Guys with pink walls should not throw out the starwars bomb.
The walls are white.
Respect it.
my bad, is the chairs then?
Only 2, and I can't say I go into that room very often.
Respect it.
well thank you, ill be sure to point out everytime u make a comment or post that no one really cares about.
See the difference is nobody ever cares about anything I say, and I'm okay with this.
On the otherside of the coin your thread did get 6 replies that it otherwise wouldn't have gotten had I not posted anything.
Also I did read the article.I just didn't have anything remotely intelligent to say at the time, but figured rather than give it a shameless "bump" I'd say something humerous.
SEE now look at what you've made me do! Expose my methods!.
Respect it.
id rather it have no replies.See the difference is nobody ever cares about anything I say, and I'm okay with this.
On the otherside of the coin your thread did get 6 replies that it otherwise wouldn't have gotten had I not posted anything.
Also I did read the article.
SEE now look at what you've made me do! Expose my methods!.
*lurking*
People will forget what you said... and people will forget what you did... but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Well you can't have that now.
What do you say to something like this article? Whether or not anything actually took place there I don't know, but the Army has good reason to investigate and find out.
Respect it.
i was just really shocked to read it, it would be like finding out that your boss's wife was having an affair with the mayor.
if u have nothing to say to it then dont respond, if i read something about a cars rear axle not working or a computers motherboard malfunction i usually dont reply because i have nothing to add to it. maybe you should try that.
I think I need medications because I am forced to respond even if I have nothing to add.
Anyways. I found it kinda funny that it had happened before in CT. 20 years ago, but still.
Respect it.
You don't do this already?
Respect it.
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