3rd Official Ousted In Walter Reed Fallout

The Army announced the retirement Monday of its surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, in the latest fallout from the controversy over outpatient care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Kiley, who headed Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, submitted his retirement request on Sunday, the Army said in a statement Monday.

Kiley, who was the commander at Walter Reed for years before being promoted to oversee all of the Army's hospitals, was lambasted last week at one congressional hearing after another, reports CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Bob Fuss. His numerous apologies were rejected by those who noted he had frequently been told about problems at the hospital's outpatient facilities and failed to fix them. He minimized the problem and blamed reporters when the story first broke.

He is the third high-level official to lose his job over revelations of substandard living conditions and bureaucratic delays at the facility overwhelmed with wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The secretary of the Army was forced out in part because he put Kiley in temporary charge of Walter Reed when the commander there was fired, so it's not really a surprise that Kiley is now gone, too, reports Fuss.

Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, currently Deputy Surgeon General, immediately assumed the Surgeon General's duties, the Army said in a press release.