Possible Disciplinary Action for General Over Tillman Case

Jamie McIntyre, CNN Washington Bureau - July 26, 2007

A retired three-star general criticized for misleading investigators probing the controversial death of Cpl. Pat Tillman could be stripped of a star and face a decrease in retirement pension, Pentagon officials told CNN.

Retired Lt. Gen. Phillip Kensinger misled investigators when he said he did not know until after Tillman's 2004 memorial service that Tillman's death in Afghanistan was likely the result of "friendly fire," said acting Defense Department Inspector General Thomas Gimble.

"We didn't find that credible. We found evidence that he knew in the April time frame," Gimble said.

Three Pentagon officials have told CNN that Army Secretary Pete Geren may recommend reducing Kensinger's rank to major general.

Kensinger is one of the witnesses invited to testify in the Oversight Committee's second hearing on the matter scheduled for July 13, 2007. Kensinger was one recipient of a memo sent days after the incident which stated that "It is highly possible that Corporal Tillman was killed by friendly fire." General Abizaid, the head of Central Command, also received the memo, as Rep. Elijah Cummings discussed in the first hearing:

Kensinger also attended a widely publicizied memorial service with speeches from military officers echoing the false account of the death, several days after this memo was addressed to him, and at a time when the Tillman family was still unaware of the truth of the circumstances of his death. General Kensinger did not correct the record even in this time of mourning, and Rep. Davis revealed that General Kensinger refused to testify at the hearing, citing the 5th Amendment: