Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says Monday that his firing of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer this weekend was not about Eddie Gallagher, that rather about respecting the chain of command.
Esper told reporters today that he fired Spencer because President Donald Trump ordered him to allow Gallagher to retain his SEAL Trident.
Over the weekend, Esper said he asked for the resignation of Spencer on Sunday because he had been negotiating a secret deal behind his back with President Trump. According to reports, Spencer had asked the President not to intervene in the Navy's procedures to hold a trident review board for Gallagher in exchange for allowing him to keep the trident.
Esper went as far as to say that he relieved Spencer because he lost, "trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor" in relation to his apparent undermining of the chain of command by trying to cut a back room deal with the White House, without keeping Esper in the loop.
Adm. Green, who commands Naval Special Warfare, had signed the documents to hold a review board to determine if Gallagher would be permitted to retain his SEAL trident and continue to remain a member of the Special Operations community. Spencer had apparently assured the President that the Navy would deliver the outcome he desired and allow Gallagher to keep his trident, as long as Trump recused himself from the proceedings.
The trident is a gold pin that Navy SEALs wear on their uniforms but it symbolizes much more. It is a mark of achievement for sailors who have graduated from some of the toughest training in the entire military and signifies their membership to an elite group of Naval commandos. To strip away a SEAL’s trident is to ostracize him and take away his identity, especially for a career SEAL like Gallagher.
Spencer's letter of resignation reads in part, "I no longer share the same understanding with the commander in chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline. I can not in good conscious obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath that I took in the presence of my family, my flag, and my faith to support and defend the constitution of the United States." This statement appears to be at odds with Spencer's own actions to cut a deal with the White House and save Gallagher's trident in a manner that gives the public appearance that the Navy handled the issue in-house. In this arrangement, the Secretary of the Navy would have to have some undue influence on the trident review board led by Navy SEALs in order to ensure they came to the conclusion desired by the White House.
General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs weighed in today saying, "The secretary of defense, the president of the United States are all part of the process, and they made a decision. And as far as I'm concerned it's case closed now. It's time to move on and address the national security of the United States."
The drama that has unfolded over and around Eddie Gallagher has been a roller coaster ride with new upsets and reversals occurring and being reported on, sometimes in each 24-hour news cycle. Gallagher was accused by fellow Navy SEALs of shooting civilians and murdering a teenage boy with a knife in Iraq. At his court martial, he was acquitted of these charges but convicted of posing for a photograph with a dead body for a trophy photo. The Navy busted him down a pay grade for this, but President Trump directly intervened to restore his rank. Next came the pending trident review board. When Adm. Green signed the paperwork to begin the process, President Trump tweeted that the Navy would not be taking his trident from him. As commander-in-chief the President has broad powers over the military. As someone sarcastically commented recently, he could order the Air Force to paint their F-35 fighter jets pink if he wanted.
As tweets are not considered a order by the military, the Navy stated that they were aware of the President's opinion and were waiting for an official order on the matter. Why the President or other White House officials did not initially do this and let the situation between Spencer and Esper simmer to a boiling point is unknown. It could simply be a matter of poor communication between the Pentagon and the White House, with a President who has a notoriously erratic leadership style.
Defense officials, veterans, and advocates for civil-military relations had decried the President's micromanaging, in this case reaching all the way down through the command structure to determine whether one Navy Chief is allowed to be a SEAL or not. Gallagher's defense has said that this has been too public and too politicized to be left solely in the hands of Navy bureaucrats.
Connecting Vets has learned that Chief Gallagher has already sold a book about his ordeal which is currently being written, even as the final chapter has yet to unfold.