Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Navy firings: Rape charges against a CO

Yesterday I asked what was going on in the Navy with all these firings. Some commenters argued that the Navy doesn’t screen effectively at lower levels, and so has a lot of people blow up on the launching pad at the 0-5 and 0-6 level. I was skeptical. But then this article appeared in Navy ...

public.navy.mil
public.navy.mil
public.navy.mil

Yesterday I asked what was going on in the Navy with all these firings. Some commenters argued that the Navy doesn’t screen effectively at lower levels, and so has a lot of people blow up on the launching pad at the 0-5 and 0-6 level.

I was skeptical. But then this article appeared in Navy Times. Back in April I mentioned that the Navy had fired the skipper of the USS Momsen. Now we learn he has been charged with rape, sodomy, maltreatment, and conduct unbecoming an officer, growing out of two incidents, one with a female junior officer, the other with a female sailor.

Thanks to all who commented yesterday. I don’t know a lot about today’s Navy and learned a lot.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.