Acting Navy secretary resigns after criticizing ousted captain who raised alarm on outbreak
Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains and Rich Schapiro
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned his post, two defense officials said, a day after he criticized and then apologized to an ousted captain who raised concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on his aircraft carrier.
Modly made the offer during a Tuesday morning conversation with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the officials said. Esper accepted his resignation and has selected Under Secretary of the Army James McPherson to replace Modly as acting Navy secretary, according to the officials.
The revelation comes after Modly’s stinging remarks about Capt. Brett Crozier, broadcast over the loudspeakers on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Monday, drew criticism from lawmakers and disapproval from President Donald Trump.
The controversy began last week when Crozier, the commanding officer of the Theodore Roosevelt, sent a strongly-worded memo to a broad array of Navy officials begging for help amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the ship. The memo leaked to the press and generated a series of headlines.
Crozier was relieved of his command last Thursday. Modly said at the time he made the decision because Crozier went outside the chain of command and exposed sensitive information.
Video emerged a day later showing throngs of Theodore Roosevelt crew members cheering for Crozier as he walked off the ship.
Modly traveled to Guam on Monday and delivered a speech to the sailor calling Crozier either “stupid or naive” for writing the memo and accusing him of a “betrayal of trust.”
“If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this,” Modly said.
Modly, in a statement released after a purported transcript of the remarks was reported by several news outlets, didn’t back down.
“I stand by every word I said,” the statement read.
But several hours later, after Trump voiced support for Crozier, Modly released a new statement apologizing for his remarks.
"Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naïve nor stupid," Modly said. "I think, and always believed him to be the opposite."
Kenneth Braithwaite, the U.S ambassador to Norway, was formally nominated to replace Modly but he is still awaiting Senate confirmation.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...id=mailsignout
oh, so now he's not naïve and stupid after saying that you would standby what he said earlier, which was naïve and stupid.
I served on a bird farm. there is no such thing as a six foot safe distance. It's a lot like a submarine. Once you're under way, there's no place to go and it's packed wall to wall with other humans. Department coops that house 50-60 living breathing bodies. 30 or less if you are in port, anywhere from 3800 to 5000 men aboard while at asea.
When you went to condition yellow, the ship used closed air conditioning systems ship wide. Recirc only.
Now I don't know about the Roosevelt, but battle stations dictate a sealed system on board on the Ranger and that's probably true for the newer bird farms. Nukes can cruise for-almost-ever, but you still need bodies to steer the damned thing.
Let's guarantee that every sailor gets it and maybe ordered to stay on post.
You'd have to scorch the Teddy R from stem to stern to clean it up.