No Punishment for Cole Captain

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 8 -- Despite failing to follow all prescribed security precautions before the Oct. 12 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors, Commander Kirk Lippold, the ship’s captain, will not be disciplined, ABCNEWS has learned.

Navy investigators found that Lippold and his crew failed to take about a dozen required steps to protect the ship, and that if all these steps had been taken, it “may have prevented or mitigated” the attack.

There was no officer on the bridge to coordinate lookouts, no orders to identify and keep track of small boats near the ship, no measures to divert a small boat if it seemed suspicious and no audio tape in Arabic to warn a boat away.

However, various admirals up the chain of command said that even if all the measures had been taken it would not have stopped the terrorists.

Yet, others may still be in trouble.

Defense Secretary William Cohen has ordered another inquiry to see if some of the admirals who reviewed the investigation might bear some responsibility themselves.

Support of the Admirals

The Navy’s highest-ranking officer reportedly decided to let stand a determination that neither the captain nor the crew of the USS Cole should be disciplined.

Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations and final arbiter in the matter, will endorse the determination made last week by Adm. Robert Natter, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, said one defense official, who discussed the matter on condition on anonymity.

Clark had not submitted his written endorsement this afternoon but was expected to do it soon, the official said.

The Navy planned to announce the result of its investigation of the Cole bombing this week. The probe sought to determine circumstances of the attack and what “force protection,” or preventive measures, the crew had taken.

Clark reportedly supported Natter’s determination that Lippold had done what could have been reasonably expected under the circumstances and that he was not given necessary information about the terrorist threat in Aden, a major port at the southern tip of the Saudi peninsula.