Poor judgment cited in admiral’s decision to step down

WASHINGTON — The four-star admiral set to become the Navy’s top officer on Aug. 1 will instead retire, an extraordinary downfall prompted by what Navy Secretary Richard Spencer called poor judgment regarding a professional relationship.

The sudden move by Adm. William Moran, announced Sunday, may add to the perception of turmoil in the Pentagon’s senior ranks, coming less than a month after Pat Shanahan abruptly withdrew from consideration to be defense secretary after serving as the acting secretary for six months.

Moran had been vetted for promotion to the top uniformed position in the Navy, nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in May to succeed Adm. John Richardson as chief of naval operations and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Instead, Moran said in a written statement Sunday evening that he told Spencer he decided to decline his appointment as the next chief of naval operations and requested to be allowed to retire.

“Adm. Bill Moran recently brought to my attention that over the past two years he maintained a professional relationship with an individual who was held accountable and counseled for failing to meet the values and standards of the Naval profession,” Spencer said in a statement. “This decision on his part to maintain that relationship has caused me to call his judgment into question.”

Other officials said Spencer was referring to Moran having recently taken public affairs counsel from Chris Servello, who was removed from his position as public affairs adviser to Richardson in 2017 and given a letter of reprimand for drinking and fraternizing with junior officers at a 2016 Navy Christmas party.

Moran said his decision to decline his appointment and to instead retire was based also on what he called an open investigation into “the nature of some of my...