in the second Gulf of Sidra incident (1989). He succeeded Admiral Carlisle A.H. Trost to become the Navy's 24th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on June 29, 1990. Tailhook controversy Kelso attended the 1991 Tailhook Association meeting in Las Vegas (his second time) at the urging of his senior aviation advisors to gain first-hand information from aviators who were part of Operation Desert Storm following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. In the months following this meeting, allegations of sexual harassment of hotel guests and other sexual misconduct on the part of naval aviators surfaced. Following several lengthy investigations, more than 100 aviators were implicated in overt acts of sexual misconduct. None were court-martialed, though over half of those implicated were informally disciplined and the careers of several senior officers were essentially ended. Secretary of the Navy Lawrence Garrett ultimately resigned and Kelso was forced to retire two months early amid the scandal and aviator complaints that he had failed to ensure due process for accused personnel. Nonetheless, the Navy and its leadership were roundly criticized for minor punishments handed out to a few officers. Kelso was succeeded as CNO by Admiral Jeremy M. Boorda on April 23, 1994. Retirement and personal life Shortly before his retirement, Senator Barbara Boxer attempted to punish Kelso by recommending a reduction in rank from full admiral to rear admiral (upper half). All officer assignments of 2-star officers (O-8) and below is under the authority of the Service Secretary. However, all military assignments for flag/general officers to 3-star or 4-star rank are job specific and the approval to hold that position with its associated rank is approved by the Senate. These assignments to jobs above 2-stars are usually limited to 18-24 months unless re-nominated. This includes retirement with 3–star or 4-star rank, any retirement with a rank higher than 2-stars must be requested by the Service Secretary to the Senate. An example of this was the case of Pacific Fleet commander Husband Kimmel following the Pearl Harbor attack, who was reassigned to a position/job of 2-stars, thus losing his “temporary” assignment with 4-star status; another case was Richard Dunleavy, Kelso's Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, who was reassigned from his 3-star job to a 2-star job as a result of Tailhook. Boxer claimed Kelso was deserving of punishment on the grounds that as the Navy's top officer he bore ultimate responsibility for what