Pure Damage Control

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

The Pentagon claims that the TAILHOOK REPORT can't be released because there's no Secretary of the Navy in place to receive it. The full story: the Defense Department has a designated candidate for the Navy post but is holding back the public announcement in order to justify not releasing the Tailhook findings. The unreleased report on drunken aviators molesting women at the 1991 Tailhook Association convention is devastating: it's expected to recommend courts-martial for at least 12 senior Navy officers. Pentagon officials (with White House blessing) want to stall the findings until after March 23 -- when the defense budget goes to Congress.