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A United States army commander has been reprimanded by the Pentagon, officials revealed Monday, after steering a defense contract to a firm run by two of his former classmates at West Point.
Major General Dana J.H. Pittard, the army's deputy commander for operations in the Middle East oversaw the training of Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State group.
The top general was officially sanctioned in February after a three-year investigation, but the punitive measure was revealed Monday through documents obtained by the Washington Post, since it had not been disclosed by the army.
According to the documents, Pittard is being reprimanded for giving contractors inside information and preferential treatment during a government contract award.
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The U.S. Army is now considering whether to strip him of his rank as a two-star general before he is allowed to retire this year.
“Your conduct fell far short of the high standards expected of general officers and undermined public trust. I am profoundly disappointed in your actions,” reads the reprimand document signed by the Army's vice chief of staff, General Daniel B. Allyn.
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Pittard's case has been the latest of a series of documented cases in which high-ranking army officials have been found breaching ethical codes.
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