Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly gave a speech to sailors that condemned the relieved commanding officer who leaked information to media.
After Capt. Brett Crozier warned of an outbreak of the novel coronavirus on the USS Roosevelt in a letter distributed to a “broad array” of people, Modly accused Crozier, who was removed from his command last week, of breaking the chain of command and of “betrayal” following the letter being leaked to the media during a speech to the ship’s crew on Monday.
“I’m gonna tell you something, all of you: There is never a situation where you should consider the media a part of your chain of command,” Modly said, according to a transcript first obtained by the Daily Caller. “Because the media has an agenda, and the agenda that they have depends on which side of the political aisle they sit, and I’m sorry that’s the way the country is now, but it’s the truth. And so they use it to divide us and use it to embarrass the Navy. They use it to embarrass you.”
Audio of the speech was later obtained and reported by Task & Purpose.
Noting that the letter that was leaked to the media contained “sensitive information” about the aircraft carrier, Modly said: “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 … too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this. The alternative is that he did this on purpose.”
Modly told sailors their former commanding officer committed a “betrayal of trust” to all crew members on the ship, putting them at “great risk.”
“Think about that when you cheer the man off the ship who exposed you to that. I understand you love the guy. It’s good that you love him. But you’re not required to love him.”
Crozier was met with a roar of cheers from his sailors Thursday evening as he was escorted off the aircraft carrier after the 5,000-person crew docked in Guam for testing on Thursday night.
In his speech to the Roosevelt’s crew on Sunday, Modly acknowledged upset among the crew for the decision to remove Crozier from his post but instructed them to remain focus on their “duty.”
“I understand that you may be angry with me for the rest of your lives. I guarantee that you won’t be alone. Being angry is not your duty. Your duty is to each other, to this ship, and to the nation,” he said.
It was revealed on Sunday that Crozier was among more than 100 sailors who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Last week, a Change.org petition that said Crozier was “unjustly relieved of duty” began gaining momentum. To date, it has over 250,000 signatures.
Modly later released a statement in response to the leaked speech. “I stand by every word,” he said after noting he has not listened to the recording to verify if the transcript was accurate.
NEW: Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly says, “I stand by every word,” after reportedly calling Captain Crozier “too naive or too stupid” to be in command. pic.twitter.com/Qcbf3JQKqb
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) April 6, 2020
