So that last few days we’ve been discussing @thespybrief Captain Crozier and the #COVID19 breakout on the Teddy Roosevelt and whether going public (outside the chain of command) was a proper action by him or if he should have stayed within military channels. BTW @thespybrief 1/
has been an indispensable resource for perspectives on what our country is going through. So let’s get back to Crozier. Being the captain on any USN ship is a huge responsibility, let alone an aircraft carrier. Let’s say #COVID19 was running rampant through the ship and 2/
Crozier’s attempts to have his superiors take the ship into port for decontamination, medical support, etc were being rebuffed. We, the public, don’t know why he was being rebuffed but we can’t automatically assume it’s bc his superiors were merely heartless. There could be 3/
many reasons for it. By “going public” Crozier not only gave an appearance that the CoC - Chain of Command - might be “broken” in some manner but he also tipped off our adversaries, Russia and China. They now know that we have a carrier group out of action and possibly 4/
vulnerable to attack. We are involved in an asymmetric conflict with both nations. The ramifications of going public could be many - China gets more aggressive w Taiwan, SKorea, Japan, and the Philippines feel less safe & are more likely to cut a deal w China, etc. Now, it 5/
could be that the Navy doesn’t care enough about its sailors but I highly doubt that. I also doubt Trump’s involvement with this situation since the man is an idiot and the only ships he plays w are those in his bathtub. I’m also not saying Crozier is a bad actor here. We 6/
don’t have enough info on him to determine whether he was compromised in some fashion. That being said, this reminds me of Colonel Oliver North and Iran/Contra. As we know, North was a pseudo whistleblower here. Arms were provided to Iran in order to raise money for American 7/
hostages being held by Hezbollah. North diverted some of this money to aid the Contras in Nicaragua who were fighting against the Soviet backed Sandinistas. North revealed the operation and was lauded as a hero at the time. Now much goes on behind the scenes in relation to 8/
our military and IC. We don’t know most of it bc it would expose sources and methods as well as placing lives of ppl in danger who are assisting us. Say what you want about President Reagan. He knew how to deal with the Soviets. Further, the Kremlin are pros at manipulation.9/
Throughout the Cold War, including the present, it is a primary mission of the Kremlin to manipulate public opinion, especially wn countries hostile toward it, in order to make it critical of the hostile gov’s leadership and institutions. To undermine them. 10/
What has Oliver North been up to since Iran-Contra? Remember, the Kremlin plays the long game. It can take years, even decades to develop assets and political narratives and movements in target countries. Further, it’s very easy for the Kremlin and their frenemy, PRC, to 11/
manipulate the Crozier narrative, a commanding officer thinking only of his crew in the face of a pandemic ripping through his ship, as opposed to a more complex situation. That narrative is also red meat for our media - good v bad. Crozier v his heartless Navy commanders 12/
hence public opinion gets manipulated immediately to support Crozier and criticize his superiors and the Navy. I’m not saying Crozier is an Oliver North-type. What I am saying is we need to be more patient and wait for more unclassified facts to go public. X
Ad.: Another thought is that Crozier may have simply panicked given what a mess things are now. The potential manipulation of the narrative still exists as noted above. We still don’t have enough facts.
