The Theodore Roosevelt episode was no isolated incident, but a portent of worse to come
Andrew Milburn
The recent imbroglio involving the firing of the Captain of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and the subsequent resignation by Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, has provided a spectacle of theater to rival the Tiger King in capturing the attention of a quarantine weary country.
The incident began when the Roosevelt’s commanding officer, Captain Crozier, concerned about the pace of the Navy’s response to an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard his ship, wrote an e-mail to colleagues that was subsequently leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Now it appears that Modly misrepresented the dissemination of Crozier’s e mail as being significantly more careless than the distribution list implied. It was addressed to Crozier’s commanding officer, Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. John Aquilino, and Naval Air Forces commander Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller, thus invalidating Modly’s claim that Crozier had bypassed his chain of command. Nevertheless, Modly relieved Crozier of his duties.
https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/18/the-theodore-roosevelt-episode-was-no-isolated-incident-but-a-portent-of-worse-to-come/
