Acting US Navy Secretary Resigns After Calling Ship Captain Who Saved Crew "Stupid"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Thomas Modly, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary, has resigned. He faced backlash after making personal attacks such as calling former aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain Brett Crozier "stupid" and a "traitor" for sending a letter to the command requesting the disembarkation of crew members infected with COVID-19, which eventually led to his own downfall.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 7th (local time), citing a senior U.S. military official, that Acting Secretary Modly had resigned.

As criticism of his remarks intensified, including calls for his resignation from Congress, Modly issued a statement the previous evening clarifying, "I want to make it clear that I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive or stupid," and apologized "for any pain my remarks may have caused" to Captain Crozier, but ultimately stepped down.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also announced via Twitter that, with President Donald Trump's approval, he accepted Modly's resignation.

Earlier, Acting Secretary Modly had said to the crew members of the Roosevelt, docked in Guam, "If Captain Crozier did not think that such information would be disclosed in this age of information we live in, then he is either too naive or too stupid to be the captain of such a ship."

Modly is known to have been the person who dismissed former Captain Crozier.