The U.S. Army is denying multiple media reports that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will be tried with desertion, pushing back broadly against reporting by Fox News, NBC News and others as “patently false.”
Retired Lt. Col. Tony Schaffer told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on Monday that Sgt. Bergdahl’s lawyers have been given a charge sheet.
NBC News backed up those claims Tuesday, citing “senior defense officials” as saying that charges will be officially announced soon, possibly within a week.
But Paul Boyce, a spokesman for Forces Command, said that “no decision’s been made,” according to an Army Times report Tuesday.
Mr. Boyce added that Gen. Mark Milley, commanding general of Forces Command, “is reviewing now the Army’s facts and findings to determine, impartially, any appropriate next steps and possible actions.”
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the press secretary at the Pentagon, spoke similarly Tuesday, reflecting a broad pushback from the military on Monday’s reports.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Ronald Lewis also blasted media reports Tuesday, describing them as “patently false.”
Gen. Milley has yet to make a decision about the soldier’s case, Maj. Gen. Lewis said.
“To be clear, there have been no actions or decisions on the Sgt. Bergdahl investigation,” he said. “The investigation is still with the Commanding General of U.S. Army Forces Command, who will determine appropriate action — which ranges from no further action to convening a court martial. We understand the public interest in this case and once a decision has been made, the Army will be open and transparent in this matter.”
Adm. Kirby said during a press briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday that Gen. Milley is under no pressure to reveal his recommendations any time soon, contrary to what Lt. Col. Schaffer had said on “The O’Reilly Factor.”
“We’re going off anonymous sources that claim to have information that, frankly, I don’t think is accurate,” he said.
One senior Pentagon official expressed surprise on over how the Army has dragged its feet in responding to the investigation findings. That investigation, known as an “Army Regulation 15-6 proceeding,” was completed in fall 2014.
“Hell, I expected a decision back in November then in December, now it’s January,” the officials said. “I don’t know. These things take time. I guess I thought we would hear something more definitive after the 15-6 was done, which actually was the end of last year, end of November, something like that, but we didn’t.”
Army officials briefed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on the months-long investigation in December.
Initially, the Obama administration tried to paint the recovery of Sgt. Bergdahl as a successful rescue operation. But that success story was tainted after soldiers who served with Sgt. Bergdahl testified in a June 2014 congressional hearing there lives had been endangered by his decision to desert his Afghanistan outpost.
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