Acting Navy secretary resigns after criticizing ousted captain who raised alarm on outbreak

Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains and Rich Schapiro
Updated ·2 min read

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned, two defense officials said, a day after he ridiculed and then apologized to a captain he had ousted for raising concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on his aircraft carrier.

Modly offered to quit in a Tuesday morning conversation with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the officials said. Esper accepted his resignation and has selected Under Secretary of the Army James McPherson to replace Modly as acting Navy secretary, according to the officials.

The revelation comes after Modly’s stinging remarks about Capt. Brett Crozier, broadcast over the loudspeakers on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Monday, drew criticism from lawmakers and disapproval from President Donald Trump.

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The controversy began last week when Crozier, the commanding officer of the Theodore Roosevelt, sent a strongly worded memo to a broad array of Navy officials begging for help amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the ship. The memo leaked to the press and generated a series of headlines.

Crozier was relieved of his command last Thursday. Modly said at the time he made the decision because Crozier went outside the chain of command and exposed sensitive information.

Video emerged a day later showing throngs of Theodore Roosevelt crew members cheering for Crozier as he walked off the ship.

Modly traveled to Guam on Monday and delivered a speech to the sailor calling Crozier either “stupid or naive” for writing the memo and accusing him of a “betrayal of trust.”

“If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this,” Modly said.

Modly, in a statement released after a purported transcript of the remarks was reported by several news outlets, didn’t back down.

“I stand by every word I said,” the statement read.

But several hours later, after Trump voiced support for Crozier, Modly released a new statement apologizing for his remarks.

"Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naïve nor stupid," Modly said. "I think, and always believed him to be the opposite."

Kenneth Braithwaite, the U.S ambassador to Norway, was formally nominated to replace Modly as secretary of the Navy but he is still awaiting Senate confirmation.