Navy auditor general created hostile workplace and abused authority, IG finds

A senior Navy civilian who ridiculed staff members about their weight, smell and appearance created a work environment so hostile that employees would cry during staff meetings and take sick leave to avoid working with her, a Pentagon watchdog found.

In a nearly two-year investigation, the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General substantiated claims that Donjette Gilmore belittled and humiliated subordinates and engaged in other misconduct, according to a report released Thursday.

Gilmore headed the 185-employee Naval Audit Service, which is charged with oversight of Navy and Marine Corps programs. She has held the title of auditor general of the Navy since June 2022.

In a statement, the Navy said Gilmore has been removed as the auditor general and was placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

Investigators had recommended that the secretary of the Navy take “appropriate action … in light of the substantiated misconduct.”

According to the agency’s website Friday, Jeffrey Tribiano, deputy naval inspector general and a retired Navy captain, is performing the duties of the auditor general.

Investigators found myriad ways in which Gilmore created a hostile workplace. She screamed at employees in staff meetings, told them to shut up or ignored them and skipped over those who upset her.

Some witnesses recounted Gilmore telling subordinates “you stink,” “you need to stop eating cookies” and “I see you picked up some weight.”

Staff meetings with Gilmore were the only place where “you’re getting torn down every day,” witnesses told the IG. Her treatment of employees was “really hard to watch” and made them feel “real, real dirty,” they said.

In response to the investigation, Gilmore broadly denied the findings and challenged the credibility of the witnesses, saying the IG relied on a “small group of disgruntled employees and gossip.”

The investigation also substantiated claims that Gilmore abused her official position, used government resources and staff time for personal matters and created the appearance of favoritism toward Black women and external candidates in her hiring decisions.

One witness told investigators Gilmore took issue with two employees who were single parents because they needed time off to care for their children, telling them things like, “Nobody told you all to have kids.”

The IG launched the inquiry after receiving six complaints against Gilmore in a 13-month period ending in June 2024. Another complaint received in April 2026 was referred to the Naval Inspector General, the report said.

Some witnesses said Gilmore “created a climate of fear” in which employees were afraid their formal complaints would prompt retaliation.

Some were reluctant to cooperate with the IG investigation and asked to have their participation concealed from Gilmore. One asked to delay an interview until after leaving the organization, and another declined a requested interview altogether, citing a continuing fear of retaliation even after the witness had stopped working for Gilmore, the report states.

Investigators interviewed Gilmore and 31 witnesses, including current and former employees of the audit service. They also reviewed nearly 4 million pages of official emails, personal emails, Microsoft Teams logs and other electronic data, as well as a memorandum from Gilmore containing hundreds of pages of documents and emails.

Also substantiated was a claim that, as acting auditor general in 2018, Gilmore had pressured a subordinate to file sexual harassment complaints against former subordinate Ronnie Booth in an effort to eliminate him from the running for the auditor general position, for which she was then also vying.

Booth was selected for the Navy’s top auditor position in late 2018. But in March 2021, an IG investigation substantiated claims that he had “engaged in a pervasive and egregious pattern of sexual harassment” toward a dozen women over more than 20 years.

Though witnesses said Gilmore was aware of complaints against Booth before he was selected, one of them said she did not seem to consider the complaints a problem until she was passed over for the job herself, this week’s report said.

The IG previously found that Naval Audit Service employees were discouraged from reporting allegations based on an unfavorable perception of how past complaints about him had been handled.

Only after Booth got the job did Gilmore submit equal employment opportunity complaints against him, witnesses said. One described it as “weaponizing the EEO system” against him.

Investigators also found evidence that Gilmore engaged in a monthslong campaign to discredit Booth, including by visiting congressional offices to complain about him and seek lawmakers’ support for her selection.

They said she also anonymously solicited alleged victims to submit complaints to a congressional staffer and a Washington Post reporter.

After the 2021 investigation into Booth’s conduct, a Navy spokesperson told CNN that the service was “focused on cultivating a climate of trust and professionalism that is intolerant of sexual harassment and retaliatory behavior.”

The earlier investigation found that several allegations against Booth were documented in a climate survey initiated because of an anonymous complaint about poor morale at the audit service under Gilmore’s leadership.

Witnesses said Gilmore tried to suppress comments critical of her in later climate surveys, according to the latest IG investigation.