The scandal of sexual assault and harassment at the 1991 Las Vegas Tailhook convention brought the United States Navy’s problems to public attention. But rampant sexism and other abuses had gone on for some time and the Navy’s response to the incidents was even more informative than the incident itself. Dismissing charges offhandedly, lying, failure to investigate, and cover-ups constituted the basis of the response. Overall the Navy’s problems have clearly resolved themselves into a picture of failure of leadership. The ethical question of the greatest importance is not the responsibility of every individual member of the service who commits illegal acts, though they are serious in themselves. Instead the problem is that those who are mandated to lead are abusing their positions in acts that signal a desire for self-preservation but are, in the longer run…