Pentagon Exec Used Subordinates as His Personal Chauffeur, IG Finds

A senior executive in the Defense Department’s Manpower and Personnel division misreported his work time and misused subordinates by assigned them to act as his chauffeur and as an escort for his personal guests at the Pentagon, a watchdog found.

Jason Forrester, until last year the deputy assistant Defense secretary for reserve affairs manpower and personnel, misapplied telework privileges—in one case to attend a Nationals baseball game—and violated ethics rules against accepting gifts from subordinates, the Defense Department inspector general’s office said in a December 2014 report released on Wednesday under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Forrester, who left the Pentagon in early 2015, disputed the charges, which involve his actions mainly in 2013-2014.

“We found that he solicited and accepted a ride from a subordinate from the Pentagon to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport prior to departing on leave,” investigators wrote after examining Forrester’s emails and interviewing staff. “We also found that Mr. Forrester tasked a subordinate to drive him to meetings and events outside the Pentagon on two occasions and that the subordinate had no official role in the event. We further found that Mr. Forrester on four occasions tasked subordinates to escort his personal lunch guests during their visits to the Pentagon and that those visits served no official purpose.”

Such actions violate the department’s joint ethics regulation.

Witnesses told interviewers that Forrester generally arrived at work after 9:00 a.m., later than most, and that “he is not in the office most of the day.” Another said, “He has a lot of lunch guests” for meals that go on for 90 minutes or two hours, and that “many appointments don’t appear work-related.”

Some in the Manpower and Personnel division found building escort duty “demeaning,” the report said. One said it made him “feel like a private,” and others objected to holding up a sign with a visitor’s name “like an airport chauffeur.”

After reading a draft, Forrester disputed the report's summarized evidence and said the findings would "not be sustained.'' He said he worked many hours and "had permission to telework and now has a formal telework agreement.''  

Other allegations against Forrester involving alleged Hatch Act violations and whistleblower retaliation were not substantiated.

One of the longest-serving Pentagon appointees in the Obama administration, Forrester supervised 1.1 million members of the National Guard and Reserve while also administering policies in suicide and sexual assault prevention. He previously worked in the Army Secretariat and the Pentagon’s legislative affairs office. Before that, he was director of policy at the nonprofit Veterans for America.

Forrester set up a Washington consulting firm last spring and also became a senior fellow at Atlas Research. He did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.