Adjunct Professor Lawrence Brennan was quoted in a Navy Times article about the collision of the USS Fitzgerald.
An opinion piece blaming the warship Fitzgerald’s 2017 collision on the crew and commanding officer that was shared on Big Navy’s social media accounts last month also went out in Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson’s official newsletter.
The commentary by retired Navy officer Bryan McGrath was published on the War on the Rocks website on Feb. 8 and redistributed on official military channels. That became a hot issue in court, where two Fitz officers are on trial for their alleged roles in contributing to the accident that killed seven sailors.
Attorneys for Cmdr. Bryce Benson, the skipper of the guided-missile destroyer when it collided with the commercial cargo vessel ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan, and Lt. Natalie Combs — the highest-ranking officer in warship’s Combat Information Center — took aim at how the Navy brass used the sea service’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts to paint unflattering portraits of their clients.
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Including the piece in a CNO product means it’s not just the author’s opinion anymore, added retired Navy Capt. Lawrence Brennan, an attorney who now teaches at Fordham University’s School of Law.“It’s the imprimatur of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations,” Brennan said. “It’s in the CNO’s paper. Who’s the target for that? Some of them might be members of the court.”
As allegations of UCI mount, the controversy threatens to derail Navy efforts to punish potential wrongdoing, he warned.
“Why are we talking about the legal aspects as opposed to the substantive ship handling aspects?” Brennan said. “The record is so heavy with comments with the CNO blaming the captain and others on board … maybe rightfully so, but not within the context of military justice.”
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And to Brennan, that makes the latest CNOtes headache that much more inexplicable.“With all the problems that are here, you would expect that the CNO and the CNO’s drafter of CNOtes would use their judgment and say, hey, maybe this isn’t the right thing to say at this time,” Brennan said.
