Fired Navy secretary criticizes Trump for SEAL case actions
WASHINGTON — Richard Spencer, who was fired at Navy secretary this week for his handling of a SEAL war crimes case championed by President Donald Trump, wrote Wednesday that the commander in chief “has very little understanding” of how the American military works.
The extraordinary accusation came in an opinion piece published on The Washington Post’s website Wednesday evening, three days after he was fired. Mr. Spencer called Mr. Trump’s intervention in the case of Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher “shocking” and unprecedented.
Mr. Spencer was fired Sunday by Defense Secretary Mark Esper for working a private deal with the White House to ensure that Chief Gallagher be allowed to retire without losing his SEAL status.
In his Post article, Mr. Spencer acknowledged his mistake, but also asserted that Mr. Trump’s actions were detrimental to the military.
Mr. Spencer said Mr. Trump had involved himself in the Gallagher case “almost from the start,” by telephoning Mr. Spencer even before the SEAL’s court martial started to ask that Chief Gallagher be moved out of confinement at a Navy brig. Mr. Spencer said he resisted Mr. Trump because the presiding judge had decided that confinement was important. Nonetheless, Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Spencer to transfer Chief Gallagher from the brig to the equivalent of an enlisted barracks.
Mr. Spencer said he believes Mr. Trump’s interest in the case stemmed partly from the way Chief Gallagher’s defense lawyers and others
“worked to keep it front and center in the media.”
After
Chief Gallagher was acquitted of most charges but convicted of posing with the corpse of an Islamic State extremist in Iraq, he submitted his request to retire. In Mr. Spencer’s telling, that raised three questions for the Navy, including whether Chief Gallagher should be allowed to retire at his current rank. The military jury had said he should be demoted.
Mr. Trump, who had tweeted support for Chief Gallagher and stated that his case had been “handled very badly from the beginning,” short-circuited the Navy’s administrative review of Chief Gallagher’s status by ordering Mr. Spencer to restore Chief Gallagher’s rank.
“This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review,” Mr. Spencer wrote. “It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
Last week, Mr. Trump tweeted that Chief Gallagher must be allowed to keep his Trident pin, the medal that designates a SEAL member. The Navy had planned to let an administrative board review the question starting Monday, but eventually Mr. Esper decided to stop that process and let Chief Gallagher retire as a SEAL, as Mr. Trump had ordered.
Earlier Wednesday, the Navy announced that it had canceled the peer-review boards for three SEAL officers who supervised Chief Gallagher during the Iraq deployment that gave rise to the war crimes charges.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the case was becoming a distraction for the commando force, known for its quiet professionalism but recently roiled with controversy.
“Given the unique circumstances of these three remaining cases, I have determined that any failures in conduct, performance, judgment or professionalism exhibited by these officers be addressed through other administrative measures,” Mr. Modly also said.
The decision was the latest twist in the Gallagher matter. Mr. Trump has made no mention of the three SEAL officers also ordered to be reviewed. All three had overseen Chief Gallagher during his 2017 deployment to Iraq.
But Mr. Modly said there were better ways to address any “failures in conduct, performance, judgment, or professionalism exhibited by these officers.”
He directed the chief of naval operations to end the review process for Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch, Lt. Jacob Portier and Lt. Thomas MacNeil.
“The United States Navy, and the Naval Special Warfare Community specifically, have dangerous and important work to do,” Mr. Modly said in a statement. “In my judgment, neither deserves the continued distraction and negative attention that recent events have evoked.”
Mr. Modly said his decision should not be interpreted as loosening the standards he expects of SEALs. He said ongoing efforts will continue to address problems within the SEAL community, which has had numerous allegations of misconduct in recent months.