Navy secretary’s travels under Trump scrutinized
WASHINGTON – Former Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite traversed the globe in his brief tenure under the Trump administration, spending about $2.4 million in air travel, according to figures and documents obtained by USA TODAY.
Braithwaite spent $232,000 the week before President Joe Biden’s inauguration to fly to Wake Island, a tiny Pacific atoll, where, according to Navy spokesman Capt. Jereal Dorsey, no sailors or Marines are stationed. The executive director of the government watchdog Project On Government Oversight called the trip “an expensive abuse of power.”
Braithwaite was Navy secretary, the service’s most senior civilian, from May 29 until Biden took office on Jan. 20. During that time, Braithwaite embarked on 22 trips to foreign and domestic destinations – more than any other senior Pentagon civilian – even as the COVID-19 pandemic trimmed the wings of other senior officials, according to two Defense Department officials.
The COVID-19 pandemic, according to the two Defense officials who were not authorized to comment publicly, cut back foreign travel for most senior officials. Some countries limited travel for visiting delegations, making trips less useful, one official said. Domestic travel was also limited, the other official said, to prevent exposure and spread of the virus among troops and officials.
Braithwaite’s international travels included Norway, Italy, Greece, Japan and India. His domestic trips included more than $24,000 to attend the ArmyNavy football game with his family and more than one visit to Hawaii.
Over the same period, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and his successor, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, took 15 trips. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy took 17 trips, and Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett recorded 19 trips. McCarthy and Barrett
had led their services since 2019. McCarthy’s trips cost roughly $900,000, and his family did not accompany him on any trips, said spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Audricia Harris. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took four trips during Braithwaite’s tenure.
Former President Donald Trump nominated Braithwaite for Navy secretary after acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly was forced to resign for his handling of the outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Modly came under criticism from Congress for his $243,000 flight to Guam, where he stayed briefly to blast the captain of the stricken ship in an address to the crew.
In a statement, Braithwaite said his trips were necessary to bolster the Navy, citing recent crises it had endured, including, presumably, the troubles surrounding the Roosevelt.
“I am extremely proud of the record of accomplishments of Our Sailors and Marines during my tenure as Secretary, especially following such a tumultuous chapter in the Navy’s recent history of crisis following crisis as compared to our other services,” Braithwaite wrote in an email. “I submit it’s impossible to lead men and women deployed around the world from behind a desk in Washington.”