President Trump would be derelict in his duties were he to countermand a decision by Rear Adm. Collin Green and other Navy commanders to remove Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the Naval Special Warfare Community.
A Navy board of review will decide on Dec. 2 whether to remove Gallagher’s trident emblem and active SEAL status. That review effort puts Green on a prospective collision course with Trump. After all, Trump last week granted clemency to Gallagher and two Army officers convicted by court-martial of war crimes. But the review decision must hold to commanders’ assessments.
Yes, Gallagher’s conviction, for taking a photo with a dead ISIS fighter, is less serious than most war crimes. But that’s not the key point here.
The point is that Green and his commanders have the responsibility and duty to decide whether Gallagher’s continued SEAL team service is in the Navy’s and nation’s interest. And although Gallagher was cleared of murder during his recent trial, witnesses at that trial suggested Gallagher shouldn’t remain a SEAL. For example, the Navy Times reported, one “[former U.S. military] sniper who’s now a civilian claimed he saw Gallagher ‘shoot an elderly man in his 70s or 80s on Father’s Day, 18 June 2017,’ a shooting backed up by a first class petty officer now assigned to… SEAL Team 6, according to [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] records.”
Gallagher was cleared of any criminal use of force. But that’s not enough to justify his continued service as a SEAL. That continued service, in an institution repeatedly rocked by misconduct allegations in recent years, requires the confident faith of the SEAL community. From the newbie just out of SEAL qualification training to Green, a SEAL must conduct himself professionally, support his team on operations, and accomplish the mission.
Perhaps the board of review will find that Gallagher should retain his trident. If so, then well and good. But if the board and Green, an Annapolis graduate with 33 years of service as an officer and 31 as a SEAL, finds otherwise, that decision must also stand. Note that Green’s decision to advance this review is supported by the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and even the normally partisan secretary of the Navy. That they are willing to go to the mat for Green suggests their overwhelming support for his judgment.
That speaks to the broader point here. This is about the ability of uniformed officers and their senior non-commissioned officer colleagues to lead day-to-day military operations. If Trump undercuts Green or the board now, military personnel of all ranks and specializations will have reason to believe that command decisions on the most instrumental matters are neither reliable nor final. And that on the most pressing issues of honor and professionalism, politics are as important as the uniform code of military justice.
The Constitution gives Trump immense power to command the U.S. armed forces. That is as it should be. But so must Trump wield that power with careful contemplation in the nation’s better interest.
