‘HARDEST AND SADDEST WEEK’: Surgeon General Jerome Adams delivered a somber warning on Fox News yesterday. “This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives,” he said. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country.”
“There’ll be a lot of death,” President Trump said on Saturday but also said that he’s beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. “I think we all know that we have to reach a certain point, and that point is going to be a horrific point in terms of death, but it’s also a point at which things are going to start changing,” he said yesterday. “We’re getting very close to that level right now. And the next week and a half, two weeks, are going to be — I think they’re going to be very difficult.”
SURGING THE FORCES: On ABC yesterday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said more than 1,000 U.S. military medical personnel are currently being deployed to New York. “We decided a few hundred of those would be deployed in New York City hospitals to augment the hospital there,” he said.
“What you’re going to find is the Javits Center will become a 2,500-bed hospital,” Esper added. “It will be the largest hospital in the United States, and it will be run by the United States military.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted yesterday that the number of deaths in New York has dropped for the first time. “What is the significance of that? It’s too early to tell,” he said. It could be a “blip maybe in the data, or hopeful beginning of a shift,” he said. “You can’t do this day to day. You have to look at three or four days to see a pattern.”
NO PLAN SURVIVES FIRST CONTACT WITH THE (INVISIBLE) ENEMY: The Pentagon’s original plan was to keep the military medical personnel on the hospital ships isolated from coronavirus patients, but, as they say in the military, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” With the number of usual trauma cases down because people are staying inside and all elective surgeries postponed, there is simply not the need for the hospital ship USNS Comfort docked in New York Harbor to handle many non-COVID patients.
“With regard to the Comfort and Mercy, we sent those ships up several days, a week ago,” Esper said on ABC. “We’re prepared to open them up to COVID patients as necessary.”
“We’ve been keeping those in reserve, if you will, because we know this will move around the country, this virus. And these ships are a large thousand-bed medical capacity that is deployable, that is mobile. And we want to make sure we can continue to deploy them as necessary,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “But, if — again, if the virus gets so bad in New York City or LA, we need to, we’ll certainly be prepared to open them up to coronavirus patients. We just don’t want trauma patients to become coronavirus patients, too.”
“That was not supposed to be for the virus at all under any circumstances. But it looks like more and more, we’re going to be using it for that,” said Trump.
TIME TO COVER UP: Esper also issued orders late yesterday for all military personnel, DOD civilian employees, family members, DOD contractors, and all other individuals on DOD property, installations, and facilities to wear make-it-yourself face masks to help slow the spread of the virus.
“Effective immediately, to the extent practical, all individuals on DoD property, installations, and facilities will wear cloth face coverings when they cannot maintain six feet of social distance in public areas or work centers,” the memo says. The masks will not be required inside a personal residence.
MAKE YOUR OWN MASK: “As an interim measure, all individuals are encouraged to fashion face coverings from household items or common materials, such as clean T-shirts or other clean cloths that can cover the nose and mouth area,” the Esper memo says. “Medical personal protective equipment such as N95 respirators or surgical masks will not be issued for this purpose as these will be reserved for the appropriate personnel.”
In a YouTube video, Surgeon General Adams demonstrates how you can “make your own face covering in a few easy steps with items you can find around the house.”
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HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN CROZIER: The fired skipper of the USS Theodore Roosevelt may have run afoul of his superiors at the Pentagon, but he remains a hero to his crew, who clapped rhythmically and cheered him by name as he departed the ship last week after being relieved of command.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modley relieved Capt. Brett Crozier of his command last week, citing “a loss of confidence” after a letter Crozier wrote pleading for faster action in evacuating his coronavirus-infected aircraft carrier leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, his hometown paper.
TRUMP’S DIM VIEW: On Saturday, Trump unloaded on the cashiered commander. “I thought it was terrible what he did, to write a letter. I mean, this isn’t a class on literature. This is a captain of a massive ship that’s nuclear-powered, and he shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter. He could call and ask and suggest,” he said during his daily coronavirus briefing.
Trump also appeared to blame Crozier for the shipboard infection, questioning his decision to allow his sailors to have liberty on a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam, in late February and early March. “I guess the captain stopped in Vietnam and people got off in Vietnam. Perhaps you don’t do that in the middle of a pandemic,” he said.
ACTING BEFORE TRUMP DID: Over the weekend, David Ignatius of the Washington Post reported that Modly told a colleague that Trump wanted Crozier fired, but in a phone call with Ignatius yesterday, Modly denied getting any direct message to that effect. Modly told Ignatius that he believed Crozier was “panicking” under pressure and that he wanted to act before Trump felt compelled to act himself.
“I didn’t want to get into a decision where the president would feel that he had to intervene because the Navy couldn’t be decisive,” Modly told Ignatius. “If I were president, and I saw a commanding officer of a ship exercising such poor judgment, I would be asking why the leadership of the Navy wasn’t taking action itself.”
ESPER BACKS MODLY’S CALL: “I think acting Secretary Modly made a very tough decision, a decision that I support. It was based on his view that he had lost faith and confidence in the captain, based on his actions. It was supported by Navy leadership,” Esper told CNN’s Jake Tapper yesterday.
When Tapper questioned why the Navy didn’t wait for the results of an investigation, Esper said that is not unheard of. “It’s certainly not unique to the Navy. The Navy has a culture of swiftly and decisively removing captains if they lose confidence in them,” he said. “All the services at times relieve commanders without the benefit of an investigation up front because they have lost confidence in them.”
CROZIER HAS COVID: Esper said as of Sunday, more than half of the Roosevelt’s 4,865 crew members have been tested, with 155 sailors having come up positive for COVID-19.
“Those are all mild and moderate,” Esper told CNN. “There have been no hospitalizations whatsoever.”
But among the 155 was Crozier, according to two Naval Academy classmates of Crozier’s who are close to him and his family, as reported by the New York Times.
CONSOLIDATIONS CONTINUE: The United States has turned over another base in Iraq as it continues to consolidate its force at two locations. “After months of planning, @Coalition departs Taqaddum (Habbaniyah) air base & transfers $3.5 million of property to @IraqiGovt,” tweeted Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve.
“Due to Iraqi Security Forces’ success in the campaign against [ISIS], the Coalition is adjusting its positioning in Iraq. These military movements are long-planned in coordination with the Government of Iraq. These pre-planned base transfers are not related to recent attacks against Iraqi bases hosting Coalition troops, or the ongoing COVID-19 situation in Iraq,” said Operation Inherent Resolve in a statement.
Taqaddum is the fourth base the U.S. has vacated in Iraq. On March 29, coalition forces handed over the K1 base in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk to Iraq’s military.
INDUSTRY WATCH: Boeing said yesterday it would extend the suspension of production operations at its Washington state facilities until further notice amid the coronavirus outbreak, reports Reuters.
“During the suspension, the company will continue to implement additional health and safety measures at its facilities to protect employees,” Boeing said in a statement. “These measures include new visual cues to encourage physical distancing, more frequent and thorough cleaning of work and common areas and staggering shift times to reduce the flow of employees arriving and departing work, among many other improvements.”
“As the suspension of operations continues, Boeing will monitor government guidance and actions on COVID-19 and [the] associated impact on all company operations. Boeing sites that remain open are being monitored and assessed on a daily basis,” the company said.
ASPEN SECURITY FORUM CANCELED: The Aspen Strategy Group has announced that the Aspen Security Forum will not go forward as planned this summer due to the impact of COVID-19.
“The annual event, which is among the world’s premier conferences on national security and foreign policy challenges, had been scheduled to take place August 3-6 in Aspen, CO with NBC News and MSNBC as media partners,” the group said in a statement.
The Rundown
AP: Taliban warn peace deal with US near breaking point
Time: As Coronavirus Spreads, Washington’s $1 Billion Aid Cut Couldn’t Have Come At a Worse Time for Afghanistan
Washington Examiner: Illegal border crossings fall to zero in pandemic
Washington Examiner: ‘Settling scores’: Schiff accuses Trump of retaliation against inspector general who handled Ukraine whistleblower
Washington Examiner: Army Corps of Engineers pivots again to coronavirus patient build-outs
Washington Examiner: DOD offers command and control for civilian call-up of doctors
USNI News: COVID-19 Patients Accidentally Transferred To Hospital Ship Comfort; Pentagon Easing Rules On Patients Treated
Stars and Stripes: U.S. Forces Japan Commander Declares Public Health Emergency For Tokyo-Area Bases As Virus Cases Surge
New York Times: U.S. Military Asks for More Pacific Funding
AP: Military Recruiting Struggles As Enlistment Stations Close
National Interest: No Empty F-35 Cockpits, The U.S. Marine Corps Says
USNI News: President Of Sub Builder Electric Boat Tests Positive For COVID-19
Seapower Magazine: Navy Orders Four New LCU 1700 Utility Landing Craft from Swiftships
The Guardian: Trump administration determined to exit treaty reducing risk of war
Air Force Magazine: Space Force Preps New Acquisition Ideas
Military.com: After 50 Years, The Army And Marine Corps Are Closing In On Dumping Brass-Cased Ammo
Wall Street Journal: Trump Is Right to Train Private Power on the Coronavirus
Calendar
NOTE: Many events in Washington have been canceled or moved online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Pentagon has been conducting almost-daily pop-up briefings, which are often only announced at the last minute. Check https://www.defense.gov for updates to the Pentagon’s schedule.
THURSDAY | APRIL 9
8 a.m. — Defense Writers Group audio conference call with Gen. Timothy Ray, commander, Air Force Global Strike Command and commander, Air Forces, U.S. Strategic Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 29
8 a.m. — Northrop Grumman Corporation webcasts its first quarter 2020 conference call, with Kathy Warden, chairman, chief executive officer, and president, and Dave Keffer, chief financial officer. http://investor.northropgrumman.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I do know that the secretary of the Navy is responsible to the American people for the good order and discipline of the Navy. And when he loses trust and confidence in a ship’s captain, then that’s it. It’s target down. And we’re moving on to the next task.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, on Fox News, defending the firing of the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
