With aircraft carrier hobbled by coronavirus, Navy officials scramble to contain blowback from initial slow response

“It is fully operational now,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday later at the White House. “It will remain so.”

It’s a brave face, considering the Navy plans to keep only 1,000 of the ship’s 4,865-member crew on board while the rest are quarantined in hotels or other facilities ashore for two weeks to be monitored for possible coronavirus infection.

THE LEAKED LETTER: Modly and Gilday were on the defensive all afternoon, largely because of a letter written Sunday night by Capt. Brett Crozier, the ship’s commanding officer, that was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,” wrote Crozier, who was urging that the majority of his crew, roughly 4,000 sailors, be removed and isolated for two weeks. “An extraordinary measure,” he said, but also “a necessary risk.”

‘A BREAKDOWN IN COMMUNICATIONS’: Gilday, the Navy’s top admiral, attributed the captain’s frustration to “a breakdown in communications” over how fast the evacuation should take place and said the chain of command did not seem to grasp the urgency of Crozier’s request.

“I think the major difference, kind of the eye-opener for us, was the fact that he wanted to move at a greater speed to get people off the ship,” Gilday said. “We made some adjustments to get people off the ship faster,” he said. “It’s a difference of approaches and perhaps, you know, our understanding now of what his point was.”

“We’re in agreement with the C.O. that we need to do all we can to get as many people off the ship while still maintaining the safe operation of the ship,” said Modly.

THE NUMBERS, THE PLAN: “We cannot and will not remove all the sailors from the ship,” Modly told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday. “And that’s not what the commanding officer requested either, nor the medical team. Our plan has always been to remove as much of the crew as we can while maintaining for the ship’s safety.”

Here are the numbers as of yesterday afternoon:

• 2,700 — sailors being evacuated from the ship this week
• 1,273 — sailors tested so far (about 24% of the crew)
• 593 — sailors testing negative
• 93 — crew members who have tested positive so far
• 86 — sailors exhibiting symptoms
• 7 — sailors testing positive but displaying no symptoms
• 0 — sailors seriously ill or hospitalized to date

JUSTIFYING THE PORT CALL: The Navy is also defending its decision to allow the Roosevelt to make a port call in Vietnam in late February and early March, just as the coronavirus outbreak was spreading across Asia.

“Prior to the port visit in Vietnam, the World Health Organization had identified less than 20 COVID-19 cases in Vietnam at the time, and all of them were in Hanoi, pretty far away from where the ship was going in Da Nang,” said Modly.

“When the crew came back on the ship, we tested certain members that we thought might have an issue. None of those tests came back positive,” he said. “We also had crew members flying on and off the ship from the air wing. So we’re not really sure where it could’ve come — someone could’ve brought it with them from San Diego when the ship actually deployed. We just don’t know.”

LAMENTING THE LEAK: Navy officials were obviously upset that the letter from the ship’s commanding officer has given the Navy a black eye, and they clearly would have preferred to handle the problem without the glare of news coverage.

“The C.O. could have communicated in a very different way to avoid family-member panicking when the first thing they see or read is, not just the letter itself, but the spin and the hype and all the things that surround it,” said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith. “So, that letter getting outside of our Navy lifelines really reduced and diminished the ability of the ombudsman network to communicate to families in a way that probably would have been a lot more settling.”

“I don’t know who leaked the letter to the media. That would be something that would violate the principles of good order and discipline he were responsible for that, but, I don’t know that,” said Gilday, who quickly added, “The fact that he wrote the letter to his chain of command to express his concerns would absolutely not result in any type of retaliation.”

ANOTHER LETTER OF CONCERN: Meanwhile, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have fired off their own letter to Modly outlining concerns and raising questions about the outbreak on the Roosevelt, which is homeported in Norfolk.

“As you are aware, there are countless Virginians with family members serving aboard Navy warships who are all concerned about the health and well-being of their loved ones,” the senators wrote. “We share these concerns for all our personnel serving in the military at this challenging time.”

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CONFERENCE CALL: President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley all spoke with service members and military families by phone yesterday to discuss COVID-19 response efforts.

They all expressed appreciation for all service members and their families as the nation battles the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

“The President noted the wide-ranging support by the Department of Defense from New York to California, and stated the nation owes a debt to our nation’s service members and their families,” Hoffman said. “Questions and items discussed focused on the military’s support capabilities, long-term impact of the coronavirus on the nation and advice to military families experiencing deployment extensions and change of duty station delays.”

NOT GOING TO SHUT DOWN: “There seems to be this narrative out there that we should just shut down the entire United States military and address the problem that way. That’s not feasible,” said Esper at the White House.

“We have a mission. Our mission is to protect the United States of America and our people, and so we live and work in cramped quarters, whether it’s an aircraft carrier, a submarine, a tank, a bomber, it’s the nature of our business,” he said. “Keep in mind, we have a job to do, and we will continue to do it: defend the United States of America.”

THE LATEST COVID NUMBERS: Here are the numbers of COVID-19 infections this week, as reported by the Pentagon. The numbers are as of 5 a.m. on the morning after the dates below for U.S. military members and civilians.

CURRENT CASES

• March 30: 1,087 total — 569 military, 220 civilian, 190 dependent, 64 contractor
• March 31: 1,259 total — 673 military, 247 civilian, 212 dependent, 72 contractor
• April 1: 1,405 total — 771 military, 273 civilian, 225 dependent, 74 contractor

CURRENT HOSPITALIZATION

• March 30: 56 total — 26 military, 16 civilian, 10 dependent, 4 contractor
• March 31: 65 total — 31 military, 17 civilian, 13 dependent, 4 contractor
• April 1: 74 total — 40 military, 22 civilian, 9 dependent, 3 contractor

CURRENT RECOVERED

• March 30: 42 total — 34 military, 4 civilian, 4 dependent, 0 contractor
• March 31: 51 total — 42 military, 5 civilian, 4 dependent, 0 contractor
• April 1: 57 total — 42 military, 7 civilian, 8 dependent, 0 contractor

CURRENT DEATHS

• March 30: 2 total — 0 military, 0 civilian, 1 dependent, 1 contractor
• March 31: 4 total — 1 military, 1 civilian, 1 dependent, 1 contractor
• April 1: 5 total — 1 military, 2 civilian, 1 dependent, 1 contractor

SNEAK ATTACK?: Yesterday, Trump tweeted a warning to Iran of possible retribution for what U.S. intelligence assessed was the possibility of another attack on U.S. troops in Iraq.

“Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq,” Trump tweeted early afternoon. “If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!”

Later at his coronavirus update at the White House, Trump expanded on his tweet. “We just have information that they were planning something, and it’s very good information, it was led by Iran, not necessarily Iran, but by groups supported by Iran, but that, to me, that is Iran,” he said. “And we’re just saying, ‘Don’t do it.’ Don’t do it. It would be a very bad thing if they did it.”

‘A VERY POWERFUL RESPONSE’: Trump referenced the U.S. retaliatory strike against Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah three weeks ago that was in response to the deaths of two American troops and a British medic in Iraq.

“That was a very powerful response, by the way. That response knocked out five different places, but it also took out a lot of very bad people,” Trump said. “I won’t say how many people were killed, but some bad people were killed, and a lot of them. That was a big response. But this response will be bigger if they do something.”

GETTING SMALLER: Trump also indicated that U.S. troops were close to wrapping up their mission in Iraq. “We’re down to a small force now,” he said. “But we’ve really largely left. You know, we’ve taken tremendous amounts out. And we’ve deployed them elsewhere, including bringing some back home.”

DON’T TRUST THE TALIBAN: Former U.S. Afghanistan commander and CIA director retired Gen. David Petraeus is out with a commentary warning that the Trump administration’s deal with the Taliban could backfire.

Along with co-author Vance Serchuk, Petraeus writes in Foreign Affairs, “Rather than sustaining an American presence in coalition with like-minded Afghans, the deal seeks to make the Taliban itself into a principal guarantor of U.S. counterterrorism interests.”

“But the risks presented by this gamble are huge, and the signs from the deal’s early aftermath — continued Taliban attacks and an Afghan government in disarray — are not encouraging,” they argue. “The United States’ tortured experience with Islamabad suggests another cautionary lesson relevant to the Taliban deal: namely, the tendency of U.S. decision-makers, once invested in a relationship or policy, to downplay or disregard information that threatens to upend it.”

INDUSTRY WATCH: The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin an $818 million contract to produce 790 extended-range variants of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, the Pentagon announced yesterday.

“This contract provides for 360 Lot 17 JASSM-Extended Range (ER) missiles; 40 Lot 17 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) JASSM-ER missiles; and 390 Lot 18 JASSM-ER missiles,” said the Pentagon in announcing the contract award. “Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2024.”

The Air Force revealed in the fall that the program is looking to scale up production to a maximum of 10,000 JASSMs and wants to reach a rate of 500 missiles per lot eventually, according to Inside Defense, which reports Lockheed is opening a new facility in Troy, Alabama, to accommodate the higher manufacturing levels.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: ‘On the fly’: Pentagon brass changing USS Roosevelt coronavirus testing protocols

New York Times: Prepare For War Or Fight Coronavirus? U.S. Military Battles Competing Instincts

Talk Media News: As its front-line carrier flounders, Pentagon realizes it faces a foe it is neither equipped nor trained to battle

Washington Examiner: Engineer derails train in attempted attack on coronavirus hospital ship: Prosecutors

Washington Examiner: Taiwan to donate 2M hospital masks to United States

Military Times: DoD’s Coronavirus Cases Are Rising On Par With The Rest Of The U.S., Death Toll Now At Five

Washington Examiner: United Nations chief warns coronavirus could drive ‘instability’ and ‘unrest’

Bloomberg: Pentagon Seeking 100,000 Body Bags for Civilians in Crisis

Wall Street Journal: China Asserts Its Claim To Global Leadership, Mask By Mask

Just the News: Assertive Russia seeks to exploit pandemic, stealing page from Soviet playbook

Washington Post: Some Are Calling Russia’s Aid To U.S. A Propaganda Effort

Military.com: The Naval War College Ran A Pandemic War Game In 2019. The Conclusions Were Eerie

The Nation: The Military Knew Years Ago That The Coronavirus Was Coming

Bloomberg: China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says

WAVY-TV: USNS Comfort Treats First Patients In New York

War on the Rocks: After the pandemic: America and national security in a changed world

Defense News: Top Marine ‘Signaling’ To Industry That F-35 Cuts Are On The Table

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 2

12:15 p.m. — New America discussion webcast on the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation’s annual report on U.S. hostage and detainee policy, “Bringing Americans Home 2020,” with report author Cynthia Loertscher; former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, partner at O’Melveny and Myers; Diane Foley, president and founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation; and Peter Bergen, vice president of New America. Webcast: https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/events/bringing-americans-home-2020