In one more ouster of a prime commander for the troubled California National Guard, a brigadier common has been fired after inside inquiries discovered that he inappropriately used navy personnel for private duties, had a subordinate full a part of his cybersecurity coaching and in any other case engaged in conduct that seeded mistrust in the ranks.
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Magram will likely be “involuntarily transferred” subsequent week to the U.S. Air Force retired reserve, an motion that is “parallel” to a firing, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Brandon Hill mentioned Friday.
Magram, who was as soon as director of the Guard’s air employees, is the fifth common to resign, retire or be fired in the wake of scandals uncovered by Times investigations of the group over the final 4 years.
Most of the allegations towards Magram had been first disclosed in a Times report in June. Weeks later, the longtime head of the Guard, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, retired.
In an e-mail to The Times, Hill mentioned an inside disciplinary board substantiated the allegations towards Magram, and the common was eliminated “for cause.” The board’s motion got here after two separate inquiries into Magram’s conduct by navy inspectors common; directives to dismiss him had been issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace and Baldwin’s successor, Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, the Guard’s performing adjutant common.
Attempts to succeed in Magram for remark had been unsuccessful. Beevers and Newsom didn’t reply to requests for remark made by way of spokespersons.
In a memorandum to Magram that The Times obtained this week, Beevers wrote, “Your conduct has caused me to lose faith, trust, and confidence in your ability to continue serving.”
The 20,000-member Guard, a department of the California Military Department, which is additionally led by the adjutant common, serves a twin mission that features responding to emergencies in the state, reminiscent of earthquakes, wildfires and civil disturbances, and aiding U.S. armed forces in navy operations abroad.
Magram attained the rank of assistant adjutant common and had been a part of Baldwin’s interior circle. However, in 2021, Baldwin suspended him with pay and reassigned him after a Times report that Guard members had been involved that their leaders had readied an F-15C fighter jet for a doable mission through which the plane would fly low over civilian protesters to frighten and disperse them.
Baldwin denied that the jet had been ready for such a deployment and mentioned the transfer towards Magram had nothing to do with the report. He mentioned the identical about his resolution to fireside Maj. Gen. Gregory Jones, commander of the air wing of the Guard.
Magram turned the focus of extra upheaval final summer time, when The Times disclosed that an inside probe discovered that he had on-duty Guard members drive him as much as 120 miles round-trip to private dental and medical appointments at Travis Air Force Base, based on a confidential report on the inquiry. The doc quoted one unnamed Guard member as saying he didn’t wish to drive Magram as a result of “my job is to take care of the airmen in the state of California and not be a chauffeur for a general.”
A Guard member who took Magram’s mom purchasing was quoted in the report as saying that “she was particular. When I say particular, it had to be at Whole Foods. … It just took her a long time to decide what she wanted, a lot of comparison shopping amongst products.”
Magram had usually confirmed the members’ accounts of working errands for him, based on the report. He mentioned he believed that having subordinates give him rides to medical appointments was in line with the Air Force’s “wingman concept,” through which Guard members look out for each other.
“I want to reiterate that had I ever heard of any ethics issues like this from subordinates, peers or commanders, or perceptions of such, I would have corrected or addressed it on the spot,” Magram mentioned in a press release to an inspector common.
However, Magram had been recommended in 2017 that tasking Guard members for rides to private appointments was inappropriate, the report said, including that his “wingman” argument “rings hollow.” The investigation equally faulted him for utilizing an underling to work on his journey awards accounts, together with for private journeys.
The inquiry additionally decided that Magram failed to finish his annual cybersecurity coaching and thus had lower-ranking Guard members every day request that headquarters quickly restore his pc entry. This went on for about two weeks, till he had the coaching accomplished by a subordinate. Magram mentioned in his assertion that he was late in finishing the coaching due to “a tremendously busy operational tempo.”
The Air Force initially issued a letter of admonishment to Magram because of the first inspector common investigation. After queries by The Times, nevertheless, the Guard mentioned a second inquiry had substantiated related allegations towards him, and one other spherical of self-discipline was pending. That culminated in his firing.
The Guard memo obtained by The Times says Magram on a number of events “wrongfully encouraged or requested subordinates” to carry out duties or run errands for him outdoors their navy duties, reminiscent of giving him rides to private appointments. The doc additionally cites the cybersecurity episode as grounds for dismissing him, stating that he “let a subordinate click through the training questions and obtain a certificate of completion for you.”
The memo additional recounts {that a} 2021 survey of Guard members discovered that they “experienced significant issues with unit cohesion, good order, and military discipline because of [Magram’s] conduct.”
In early 2019, a Times report disclosed inside complaints of reprisals towards whistleblowers and allegations of a cover-up of misconduct amongst the Guard management. The complaints centered on the group’s Fresno air base and included an incident through which somebody urinated in a feminine Guard member’s boots. Baldwin later eliminated the commander of the Guard’s air aspect, Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison. The commander of the 144th Fighter Wing at the Fresno base was additionally eliminated.
In 2020, in response to a different Times report, Newsom’s workplace denounced the Guard’s resolution to ship a navy spy aircraft to suburban El Dorado Hills, the place Baldwin lived, to assist civilian authorities monitor demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd. Baldwin mentioned the undeniable fact that he resided in El Dorado Hills, the place the protests had been small and peaceable, had no bearing on the deployment of the RC-26B reconnaissance aircraft.
The Times reported final 12 months that an inside inquiry substantiated allegations that Brig. Gen. David Hawkins made antisemitic and homophobic slurs, together with that Jews are unrepentant sinners and that homosexual marriage is a purpose terrorists assault the United States. Hawkins obtained a letter of reprimand because of this, the Guard mentioned. Responding to a subsequent Times question, the Guard confirmed in June that Hawkins had resigned.
Hawkins informed The Times that “those allegations are largely untrue” and particularly denied making the assertion about terrorist assaults. He mentioned he believed the allegations had been lodged by somebody who overheard and misconstrued a dialog he had with a chaplain.
