U.S. Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher prepares to answer a question from the media with wife Andrea Gallagher after being acquitted on most of the serious charges against him during his court-martial trial at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, California, U.S., July 2, 2019. REUTERS/John Gastaldo/File Photo
Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. Navy secretary backs SEAL's expulsion review, despite Trump objection
U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said on Friday a Navy SEAL convicted of battlefield misconduct should face a board of peers weighing whether to oust him from the elite force, despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that he not be expelled.
“I believe the process matters for good order and discipline,” Spencer told Reuters, weighing in on a confrontation between Trump and senior Navy officials over the outcome of a high-profile war-crimes case.
A military jury in July convicted Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of illegally posing for pictures with the corpse of an Islamic State fighter but acquitted him of murder in the detainee’s death. Gallagher also was cleared of charges that he deliberately fired on unarmed civilians.
Although spared a prison sentence, he was demoted in rank and pay grade for his conviction, which stemmed from a 2017 deployment in Iraq.
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Update: Are the Navy’s admirals forcing a crisis in traditional civil-military affairs? (Carl Prine, Navy Times)
WNU Editor: So much for civilian control of the military. I also find it quite bizarre to hear U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer publicly criticize the Commander in Chief in the name of ‘good order and discipline'. This is anything but 'good order and discipline'. My prediction still holds that people are going to be fired and/or transferred over this disobedience.
