The Navy has delayed the release of its senior chief petty officer advancement results and opened a formal investigation after someone sent out a copy of the unofficial results via e-mail late last week.

According to a Navy news release, the inspector general of the Bureau of Naval Personnel is investigating the leak.

About 1,725 chief petty officers are expected to be on the official list, which was supposed to have been released this week by the chief of naval personnel, Vice Adm. Gerry Hoewing.

Copies of the unofficial list, which includes both sailors’ names and their full Social Security numbers, have made their way to some senior enlisted sailors in Europe.

These e-mailed results are “early and inaccurate,” said a CNP spokesman, Cmdr. Ron Hill.

“[Sailors] should clearly not consider it a credible document,” he said. “It’s only a working document until CNP releases them.”

When the Navy puts out its official advancement lists, it only gives the names and final four numbers of a sailor’s Social Security number. The bureau annually holds selection boards to determine promotions for its three top enlisted ranks.

A board composed of master chief petty officers and headed by senior officers met April 18 to select those chief petty officers for promotion to senior chief. The board wrapped up Friday and was scheduled to forward its results to Hoewing for his final approval Monday morning.

Once Hoewing certified the board and its results, they were to be released electronically to Navy commands, allowing commanders to inform sailors that they’ve been selected for advancement. Two days later, the results would be released by Navy message.

But Hill said that the Monday meeting never happened.

On Thursday, the unofficial results were e-mailed out, and the leak came to the bureau’s attention. The IG inspection quickly followed.

The Navy’s senior enlisted sailor, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry Scott, also sent a two-paragraph message to fleet and force master chief petty officers informing them of the holdup.

In it, he wrote that the unofficial release eroded the integrity of the selection board process.

“Selection boards in any case do not make the final decision in the promotion process, they only make a recommendation to [Hoewing],” wrote Scott. “This is a serious offense and compromises the trust and confidence we place in the system.”

“Admiral Hoewing’s biggest concern, working closely with the MCPON, is to make sure integrity of the boards and selection process stays intact and that sailors can have faith in the system,” Hill said.

The IG investigation is ongoing, and Hill couldn’t say when it would be completed. Once done, though, Hoewing “will take the results [of the inspection] and decide what to do with results of the board,” Hill said. “He could determine that the board was valid and the process not really compromised by this leak and announce results of the board.”

Conversely, Hill said, if Hoewing determines that the process was flawed, he could reconvene the entire selection board, delaying the promotions even longer.