Mike Rothschild is a fucking idiot
Head of Missile Defense Agency sexually harassed staffers for 7 years, Pentagon watchdog finds
09/16/20 08:54 PM EDT
The former top civilian at the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) sexually harassed two women in his office for seven years before retiring after a complaint was filed, the military’s watchdog agency has found.
John James, the former MDA executive director, “engaged in a pattern of misconduct in which he sexually harassed” the two employees from 2012 through 2019, according to a recently released Defense Department Inspector General's report.
James “repeatedly sought out and made deliberate, unwelcomed physical contact” with one woman - “whom he would normally have little or no professional interaction” – including asking for her personal cell phone and taking a picture of her buttocks as she walked away from him.
James on two occasions massaged the second woman behind a closed door in his office while saying “I love this.” The woman eventually left the agency due to James’ behavior, the report found.
He also made an inappropriate comment to a third employee in 2017, for which he received counseling about his behavior, though he continued to harass the two other employees for another two years.
James told investigators that his interactions with the women were “part of a mentoring relationship,” though the inspector general found no evidence to support the assertion.
The inspector general's office in August 2019 first received a complaint on James through the MDA, which researches, develops and buys missile systems to defend the United States and allies. The IG then opened an investigation into the allegations in September 2019.
James in November was reassigned within the MDA to assistant director for cybersecurity before retiring in late February, though the inspector general's office continued its investigation.
Investigators interviewed 11 witnesses, including the three employees affected, and reviewed 421,800 emails, messages and other documents, as well as government-issued cell phones, tablets and laptops.
In speaking with investigators, James denied taking a photo of the first woman and massaging the second woman and said that he did not recall a number of the scenarios that the women recounted. He said he believed the complaints were from a disgruntled male employee passed over for promotion at the MDA.
“There’s a modicum of truth in the interactions, but no intent for sexual harassment, or favors, or anything of that nature,” he said, according to the report…
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/516818-head-of-missile-defense-agency-sexually-harassed-staffers-for-7-years-pentagon