In a scathing internal report obtained by Foreign Policy magazine, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General’s Office says Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, regularly bullied and screamed at his staff and mismanaged his office, and recommends “corrective action.”
The May report, which was not made public, found that O’Reilly “engaged in a leadership style that was inconsistent with standards expected of senior army leaders,” resulting in the departure of at least six senior staff members.
The 37 witnesses whom the Inspector General’s Office interviewed about O’Reilly described him as “condescending, sarcastic, abusive,” his leadership style as “management by blowtorch and pliers,” and his staff’s predicament as “beaten wife syndrome.”
