U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan speaks with reporters aboard a government aircraft en route to South Korea, June 2, 2019.

U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan speaks with reporters aboard a government aircraft en route to South Korea, June 2, 2019. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando

Shanahan ‘Not Planning’ USS McCain Investigation, But Still Reviewing Facts

“There’s no restriction on how people can send email,” the acting defense secretary said.

SEOUL, South Korea — Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he does not yet intend to call for an inspector general investigation into a White House request that the USS John S. McCain be obscured for President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan over Memorial Day weekend. But Shanahan left open the possibility that his decision could change after he returns to Washington from his current Asia tour, reviews the facts of the allegations deeper, and speaks to Pentagon staff.

“No, I’m not planning any IG investigation… because there was nothing really carried out,” Shanahan told reporters traveling with him in on Sunday, in a press briefing aboard his plane. ”

But later, he said that he was not planning to refer the matter to the inspector general “right now” because “I want to follow through with the facts.” He said that he still wants answers to questions like “when this information came in, how was it dealt with?”

The incident has raised concerns about politicization of the military and whether the Trump White House sought to circumvent the chain of command with the unusual request, which came directly from a still-unknown White House Military Office official to the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan. According to Shanahan, who earlier in the week directed his chief of staff to look into the matter, the White House official’s request was not followed. Initially, The Wall Street Journal reported that sailors from the McCain were kept away from the Trump visit and a tarp covered the ship’s name. Shanahan said that those sailors were on a previously-scheduled leave, not one designed to keep them away from the event with the president, and that a tarp that was photographed before Trump’s arrival covering the name of the ship was there for routine maintenance purposes and was removed by the time of the president’s arrival.

The incident has raised questions about why a White House official would make the request directly of a local fleet instead of going through the defense secretary’s office. But Shanahan shrugged off concerns about a breakdown in the chain of command, saying, “There’s no restriction on how people can send email.”

Shanahan suggested that he had not had time to review the situation in any depth, saying that he had been “focused on a lot of other operational issues in the world” during the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-profile security conference in Singapore this week. Asked if he has confidence in his chief of staff Eric Chewning’s review of the matter, Shanahan said “These were the facts that were reported back to me.”

“When I get back and I can sit with the people who’ve reviewed this, I’ll be able to get a sense of the comprehensiveness.”

Related: Shanahan: ‘We’re Not Going To Ignore Chinese Behavior’

Shanahan’s spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, told reporters that on Friday the acting secretary instructed Chewning to speak with the White House Military Office to “reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized.” The secretary is also considering implementing formal guidance for units assisting with VIP events, clarifying who they should be taking instruction from and what policy to follow, according to a defense official.

Shanahan said he has not spoken with Trump about the incident.

Trump has been a virulent critic of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., dating back to the campaign trail when he said that the former Vietnam prisoner-of-war was not a “war hero” because he had been captured. According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the White House’s instruction, the directive to obscure the ship was made out of concern that Trump would be angered by its presence.

Shanahan said that he called the senator’s widow Cindy McCain in the wake of the incident, but declined to detail their conversation. “It was a private conversation,” Shanahan said.

“There’s no room for politicizing the military,” Shanahan said. “We don’t need that.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.