Pentagon probes day care abuse The Army hired up to 30 caregivers to work at a day-care center in Arlington who should have been barred from contact with children, U.S. officials disclosed Wednesday, a day after the Pentagon launched a worldwide review of hiring practices at military child-care centers. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced the review on Tuesday after he learned about allegations of abuse by caregivers at the Child Development Center at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the Pentagon said. Workers at the day-care center at the base, known as Fort Myer, were recorded by surveillance cameras dragging, pinching, kneeing and taunting toddlers, according to federal court records. The center, among the military's largest, is used by Pentagon employees. A personnel review at Fort Myer was started in September after a parent complained about an allegedly abusive caregiver. The review turned up evidence that staffers had been hired despite allegations of offenses that ranged from drug use to assault, which should have disqualified them from child-care jobs, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation said. "This is not just one or two or three people," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing probe. This is a severe lapse in the background-checks system. Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters Wednesday that Panetta was "deeply disappointed and angry" about the hiring lapses at the base. Army officials offered little information about the probe. Fort Myer spokeswoman Mary Ann Hodges said she could not say more due to "privacy concerns" and a desire to "maintain the integrity of the procedural processes afforded to employees affected by review of hiring actions."