Top GOPers in 'Major Effort' to Uncover Kerry's Naval Discharge

Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 8:58 a.m. EDT

Top Republicans in Washington are trying to determine
whether or not John Kerry received an honorable
discharge from the Navy, the reporter who's taken the
lead in probing Kerry's naval records said Sunday.

"I've already received an indication from high-ranking
Republican officials that, basically, there is a major
effort going on in Washington to find proof" of the
type of discharge Kerry received, New York Sun
reporter Thomas Lipscomb told WABC Radio's Steve
Malzberg. Last week, Lipscomb quoted a spokesman for
Sen. John Warner, who was Secretary of the Navy at the
time, as saying his boss "has no recollection that
would either confirm or challenge any representation
that Senator Kerry received a less than honorable
discharge."

And Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade hasn't
responded to Lipscomb's inquiries on the matter.

A document on Kerry's web site says he was honorably
discharged in 1978. But his actual separation from the
service was in 1972.

The Kerry document is a form cover letter in the name
of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy,
W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge
as being subsequent to the review of "a board of
officers."

Notes Lipscomb: "This in it self is unusual. There is
nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action
in the Navy that requires a review by a board of
officers."

Because so many Navy documents from that era have
subsequently been destroyed, Lipscomb said the only
evidence of the circumstances of Kerry's 1972
separation would be in national security records.

But technically they're protected - up to a point.
Lipscomb said there's always the possibility that
someone would leak Kerry's records.

"Remember what happened to Linda Tripp?" he reminded
Malzberg. "She had a juvenile conviction that was
supposed to be expunged from the records . . . But one
of the Department of Defense Clinton employees
proceeded to out her national security file."

Lipscomb says the jury is still out on Kerry's Navy
discharge until further evidence emerges.

"I'm kind of sitting here, hanging in the breeze,
trying to sort this out - waiting for somebody to
talk, some document to pop," he said.