>
Douglas Glenn, a veteran government financial expert, was accused of using sexually suggestive and racially offensive language in a report released Thursday.
A senior Pentagon official “failed to treat his subordinates with dignity and respect,” the inspector general concluded, noting how he made sexually suggestive comments, used racist language and drank with his staff during work hours.
He called one employee a “hot blonde” and told another that he “hoped some stud guy would rub oil on his back on the beach.”
He used the n-word in a meeting with his staff, saying it was perhaps understandable that people would lock their car doors when a black man drove by, an incident Barack Obama recalled in a 2013 speech.
Douglas Glenn joined the Department of Defense in 2018 from the Department of the Interior and was promoted in January 2021 to acting comptroller, the defense secretary’s top adviser on budgetary affairs.
The complaints started as soon as he took over as controller and prompted the investigation; however, despite this, he was hired in November 2021 to be the chief financial officer for the Office of Personnel Management.
The OPM has not commented on the report’s findings or referred to his future in office. Glenn hasn’t responded either.
Glenn joined the Department of Defense in 2018 from the Department of the Interior and was promoted in January 2021 to acting comptroller, the defense secretary’s top adviser on budgetary affairs.
Robert Storch, the inspector general, spent nearly two years compiling the report, speaking with 18 witnesses and reviewing hundreds of thousands of emails.
The report was published on Thursday.
In a February 2021 staff meeting, he referenced Obama’s 2013 speech, in which he discussed his experiences with racism and recalled hearing people slam their car doors as he passed by.
Glenn told staff “that the people who closed their car doors” might not have been racist “or had other reasons for closing them,” according to the report.
Staff told investigators their comments “made them and other subordinates feel shocked, surprised, betrayed, stunned and very confused, and was inappropriate and insensitive.”
Glenn told Stroch’s team that he intended to show how “people can see things differently” on issues of race.
‘Who are the people in the car that are closing their doors?’ Glenn told the inspector general’s staff, according to the report.
Maybe they are racist. Maybe they are looking at a black man and assuming there is a high potential for robbery.
‘Or maybe they’re just following the National Highway Administration guidelines for locking the doors when you’re driving. It could be anyone”.
Glenn referenced a 2013 speech by Barack Obama, in which Obama addressed the racism he experienced. Glenn tried to downplay Obama’s comments
At the same meeting, Glenn asked an Asian-American woman how she felt as an “Asian woman” in a department “that sees China as its biggest threat.”
He admitted to investigators that it was “awkward” but said he thought he had asked for his consent before the meeting.
Glenn “stated that his performance rating for that time period was ‘Exceeds Completely Successful,’ leading him to believe that no one complained to his supervisor about his general comments,” the report says.
At another staff meeting several weeks later, focused on diversity and inclusion, Glenn told an anecdote about mishearing someone and thinking they used the n-word.
Glenn confirmed using the racial slur, but said the story was intended to “highlight the different reactions he received and explain why it’s hard to talk about race.”
The report found that a staff member was “alarmed, shocked and offended that Mr Glenn thought it was okay to use the n-word.”
He also made sexually inappropriate comments, commenting on an employee’s attractiveness relative to others.
Another employee said Glenn referred to her as a “hot blonde” at happy hour outside the office.
Glenn denied making the comments, saying it didn’t sound like something he would say.
Staff members also spoke of two occasions when Glenn drank wine and craft beer in his office during work hours and offered them to his subordinates.
Glenn accepted that he kept alcohol in his office and drank occasionally, mostly outside of work hours, but stopped when he learned that the Department of Defense requires written authorization to consume alcohol on the job.
Three people who previously worked for Glenn, two women and a black man, contacted The Washington Post to defend him.
“I would consider him my best boss in 32 years in government,” said Vickie Jones, who worked for Glenn a decade ago when he served as deputy chief financial officer at the General Services Administration.
Glenn denied intentionally creating a hostile work environment.
“Mr. Glenn told us that his subordinates may have misinterpreted what he said as sexually suggestive, but his comments were “not intended to be so in any way, shape or form,” the report found.
The report’s authors said: “We respect our conclusions.”