Navy Secretary

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Beverly B. Byron of Maryland, a seven-term lawmaker who was defeated in the March primary, is one of several women being considered as a replacement to outgoing Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III.Mrs. Byron, 59, a conservative Democrat and Armed Services Committee member, is being pushed for the top Navy job by Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, a Baltimore County Republican, according to a senior White House official.The official, who termed Mrs. Byron's chances "possible," said that besides the Frederick Democrat's pro-defense views, her gender is also a plus.

On the 200th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of war on Britain and its colonies, representatives of the United States, Britain and Canada gathered at Fort McHenry to sign a "declaration of peace. " "Much … has changed in 200 years," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a crowd of politicians, diplomats and military leaders Monday. "Today, we stand together as inseparable friends, as we have for decades. We work together. We advance together. We fight together. " The War of 1812 was the last conflict among the United States, Britain and Canada.

The Blue Angels flying team had just finished its aerobatics performance above the Naval Academy when James H. Webb Jr. walked into the school's bookstore to find a long line of midshipmen, naval officers and others waiting for him.Most of those in line wanted a chance to shake the hand of a well-known author and have him sign a copy of his latest book, "The Emperor's General."Others sensed something bigger in Webb's return to Annapolis. To the school where he lost a three-round boxing match with classmate Oliver L. North.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski on Wednesday likened the loss of the USNS Comfort to the departure of the Baltimore Colts - and asked Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to reconsider. The U.S. Fleet Forces Command announced last month that it was moving the white-hulled hospital ship, a fixture of the Baltimore waterfront for a quarter century, to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. “We love the Comfort,” Mikulski, chairing a subcommittee hearing Wednesday morning on the Navy's 2013 budget request, told Mabus.

WASHINGTON -- A Navy helicopter commander who faced a discharge after his refusal to fly combat missions with women has been allowed to stay on active duty.Just before his unit, with its two female pilots, was to depart for the invasion of Haiti last summer, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth A. Carkhuff, a 13-year Navy veteran, told his commanding officer that he would not go to sea because his religious and moral beliefs prevented him from going into combat with women.Commander Carkhuff's superior immediately relieved him of his duties, and two Navy review boards recommended unanimously this year that he be dismissed for "substandard performance."

The Navy's top officers have lost their "moral courage," abandoning their battle-tested comrades to Tailhook and "political correctness" and standing silently by while the fleet has been shrunk, former Navy Secretary James H. Webb charged yesterday.In a speech before the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis that provoked an angry exchange and a tug of war over the microphone with a former Navy undersecretary, Mr. Webb drew a scathing portrait of Navy leadership.Some admirals -- including the current and former chiefs of naval operations -- would rather preserve or promote their careers and curry favor with politicians than support the service, he said.

WASHINGTON -- Overruled in his first major decision as the Navy's new top civilian, John Dalton is fighting to save his credibility as well as a working relationship with his top military officer at a time when the Navy remains dogged by a 2-year-old sexual harassment scandal.Defense Secretary Les Aspin's reversal last week of Mr. Dalton's call to remove the Navy's top officer, Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, for failing to show leadership at the 1991 Tailhook Association convention, was more than simply an embarrassment.

Naval Academy Superintendent Adm. Charles R. Larson was forced to apologize last week for knowingly violating military regulations when he kept Navy criminal investigators in the dark about evidence that a freshman might have committed murder, Navy sources say.Fearing publicity that would further tarnish the image of the academy after a year of scandals, Larson and his top staff decided to deal quietly with Texas police rather than contact the Navy's own...

For Navy Secretary John H. Dalton, it is an excruciating choice: Destroy the career of a young woman for a lie she may not have told, or overturn the judgment of the Navy's longest-serving flag officer on a matter of honor.Naval Academy Superintendent Charles R. Larson, the four-star admiral called to Annapolis in 1994 to restore the midshipmen's sense of ethics, has decided to expel a 21-year-old student from Massachusetts for lying. Dalton, a 1964 academy graduate who spoke on honor at the academy just this week, must sign off on the expulsion.

Lamar S. Owens Jr., the former Navy quarterback who was convicted of two felonies after having sex with a female classmate in the Naval Academy dormitory, will be expelled with no degree and will owe the school more than $90,000, Navy officials said yesterday. The Navy secretary, Donald C. Winter, deemed his conduct "unsatisfactory" and ordered him discharged, though Owens, 23, was acquitted in July of rape and supporters had launched a campaign in his behalf of letter-writing, organizing on the Internet and lobbying in Annapolis and Washington.

Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter had never spoken at a high school before. But when U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings asked him to take a few hours out of his busy schedule to drive to West Baltimore and speak at a school with a maritime focus, Winter was happy to oblige. After all, he said, the Navy ought to be looking for younger recruits. Between the time the visit was scheduled and the time Winter appeared at the school yesterday, a lot happened at Maritime Industries Academy. Accused of grade falsification and letting a student teach classes, Principal Marco T. Clark has, over the past three weeks, resigned, changed his mind and tried to rescind the resignation.

The defense team of Lamar S. Owens Jr., the former quarterback who was convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer for having sex with a female classmate in the Naval Academy dormitory, vowed yesterday to fight his expulsion and the requirement that he repay more than $90,000 in education costs. In a written statement, Reid Weingarten, Owens' civilian defense attorney, said he was "extremely disappointed" with Navy Secretary Donald Winter's decision because the Savannah, Ga., native was acquitted in July of rape.

Lamar S. Owens Jr., the former Navy quarterback who was convicted of two felonies after having sex with a female classmate in the Naval Academy dormitory, will be expelled with no degree and will owe the school more than $90,000, Navy officials said yesterday. The Navy secretary, Donald C. Winter, deemed his conduct "unsatisfactory" and ordered him discharged, though Owens, 23, was acquitted in July of rape and supporters had launched a campaign in his behalf of letter-writing, organizing on the Internet and lobbying in Annapolis and Washington.

A former Navy quarterback who was acquitted of rape and now faces expulsion from the Naval Academy took his case to Washington last week, urging members of Congress to support his attempts to graduate and become an officer. Securing the free assistance of several people from lobbying giant Cassidy & Associates is the latest step for Lamar S. Owens Jr.'s supporters, a group that includes a growing number of academy alumni with a wide range of influence garnered from prominent careers in the public and private sectors.

Washington -- Prominent Democratic senators who are against the troop buildup in Iraq took issue yesterday with criticism from Bush administration officials who contend that opposition to the president's new strategy will embolden the enemy. "It's not the American people or the United States Congress who are emboldening the enemy," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's the failed policy of this president - going to war without a strategy, going to war prematurely."

WASHINGTON - Navy Secretary Gordon R. England, who grew up in a working-class home in West Baltimore and worked his way through the University of Maryland, was nominated by President Bush yesterday to become the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, taking over for Paul Wolfowitz, who was named yesterday to lead the World Bank. "I am honored and humbled to have been selected by the President as his nominee for the post of deputy secretary of defense," England said in a statement. "It has been a profound honor to serve our brave sailors and Marines and their families as secretary of the Navy."

WASHINGTON - Navy Secretary Gordon R. England, who grew up in a working-class home in West Baltimore and worked his way through the University of Maryland, was nominated by President Bush yesterday to become the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, taking over for Paul Wolfowitz, who was named yesterday to lead the World Bank. "I am honored and humbled to have been selected by the President as his nominee for the post of deputy secretary of defense," England said in a statement. "It has been a profound honor to serve our brave sailors and Marines and their families as secretary of the Navy."

Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter had never spoken at a high school before. But when U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings asked him to take a few hours out of his busy schedule to drive to West Baltimore and speak at a school with a maritime focus, Winter was happy to oblige. After all, he said, the Navy ought to be looking for younger recruits. Between the time the visit was scheduled and the time Winter appeared at the school yesterday, a lot happened at Maritime Industries Academy. Accused of grade falsification and letting a student teach classes, Principal Marco T. Clark has, over the past three weeks, resigned, changed his mind and tried to rescind the resignation.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that he has recommended a nominee to the White House to fill the post being vacated by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. And while Rumsfeld declined to reveal his choice, speculation continued to center on Navy Secretary Gordon R. England, a Baltimore native. Asked later at the Pentagon whether he was Rumsfeld's choice, England sidestepped the question, though he acknowledged that he has discussed the deputy secretary's job with Rumsfeld.

Under fire from Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and others, the Navy backed away yesterday from a proposal to resume bombing, strafing and live-fire military exercises on an island in the Chesapeake Bay. During a Senate subcommittee hearing on the Navy's budget yesterday, Mikulski told Navy Secretary Gordon England that the residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore were agitated about the proposal, first reported March 4 in The Sun. "Remember, they fought off...