That stench you detect wafting from western Anne Arundel County isn't coming from a landfill, a dying stream or a smokestack. It's from Fort George G. Meade. Something rotten is going on within the confines of that military installation, and it's high-time local members of Congress pressure the Army to find out what it is.
Army investigators have, in fact, been looking at Fort Meade since 1991 in two separate probes. They have kept silent about what they have found, but correspondence from lawmakers and information from post sources indicate the Army is pursuing allegations of mismanagement, fraud, waste, environmental violations, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Many questions beg to be answered. One of the most puzzling is why Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who was informed of the charges two years ago, has been so seemingly unconcerned. In November 1991, Senator Mikulski received a letter regarding the first investigation from the Army inspector general's office, noting that an inventory had unearthed accounting flaws "possibly involving millions of dollars." This sounds alarming, but Senator Mikulski apparently did nothing.