million soldiers, personnel, and contractors. Walter Reed incident and resignation In the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal, Harvey announced his resignation on March 2, 2007, after being asked to do so by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, with effect from March 9. In his memoirs, Gates cited Harvey's appointment of Army Surgeon-General Kevin C. Kiley as temporary hospital commander. This appointment "was greeted with dismay by many wounded warriors and their families" because many of these problems arose during Kiley's previous command of the hospital. Gates also cited Harvey's "unconscionable" attempt to blame the problems on "some NCOs who weren't doing their job". Gates described Harvey as "a good man who had rendered distinguished service to the country. I fired him because once informed of the circumstances at Walter Reed, he did not take the problem serious enough". References Garcia, Charles P. Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows: Learn How to Inspire Others, Achieve Greatness, and Find Success in Any Organization. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. External links Francis J. Harvey's federal campaign contributions 1943 births Living people People from Latrobe, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans United States Secretaries of the Army University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni University of Notre Dame alumni George W. Bush administration personnel