The New York Times. April 04, 2020

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 0 N + A

Tracking an OutbreakU.S. Response

WASHINGTON — It was a
send-off for the ages, with hun-
dreds of sailors aboard the aircraft
carrier Theodore Roosevelt
cheering Capt. Brett E. Crozier,
the commander who sacrificed his
naval career by writing a letter to
his superiors demanding more
help as the novel coronavirus
spread through the ship.
The rousing show of support
provided the latest gripping scene
to emerge from the coronavirus
pandemic: the rank and file shout-
ing their admiration for a boss
they viewed as putting their
safety ahead of his career.
The memes were quick to
sprout on social media. On Reddit,
one depicted Captain Crozier
forced to choose between rescu-
ing his career or his sailors from a
burning building; he chooses his
sailors. On Twitter, a slew of vid-
eos showed Captain Crozier’s
walk down the gangway in Guam,
most of them depicting him as a
hero struck down by his superiors
for trying to save the lives of his
crew. “Wrongfully relieved of
command but did right by sailors,”
wrote Twitter user Dylan Castillo,
alongside a video of Captain
Crozier leaving his ship.
But in removing Captain
Crozier from command, senior
Navy officials said they were pro-
tecting the historic practice that
complaints and requests have to
go up a formal chain of command.
They argued that by sending his
concerns to 20 or 30 people in a
message that eventually leaked to
news organizations, Captain
Crozier showed he was no longer
fit to lead the fast-moving effort to
treat the crew and clean the ship.
His removal from prestigious
command of an aircraft carrier
with almost 5,000 crew members
has taken on an added signifi-
cance, as his punishment is
viewed by some in the military as
indicative of the government’s
handling of the entire pandemic,
with public officials presenting
upbeat pictures of the govern-
ment’s response, while contrary
voices are silenced.
The cheering by the sailors is
the most public repudiation of mil-
itary practices to battle the virus
since the pandemic began. At the
Pentagon, officials expressed con-
cern about the public image of a
Defense Department not doing
enough to stay ahead of the curve
on the virus.
Notably, the defense of the fir-
ing offered by senior Pentagon of-
ficials has centered on Captain
Crozier not following the chain of

command in writing his letter,

which found its way to newspa-

pers. In a circuitous explanation,

Thomas B. Modly, the acting Navy

secretary, said that Captain

Crozier’s immediate superior did

not know that the captain was go-

ing to write the letter, offering that

act as an error in leadership and

one of the reasons the Navy had

lost confidence in the Roosevelt

captain.

But a Navy official familiar with

the situation but not authorized to

speak publicly about it said that

the captain had repeatedly asked

his superiors for speedy action to

evacuate the ship. His letter, the

official said, came because the

Navy was still minimizing the

risk.

Mr. Modly insisted that his fir-

ing the captain for writing a letter

asking for more help does not

mean that subordinate officers

are not allowed to raise criticisms

and ask for assistance. “To our

commanding officers,” Mr. Modly

told reporters on Thursday, “it

would be a mistake to view this de-

cision as somehow not supportive

of your duty to report problems,

request help, protect your crews,

challenge assumptions as you see

fit.”

But the removal of Captain

Crozier will likely have a chilling

effect on the willingness of com-

manders to bring bad news to

their superiors.

“There’s no question they had

the authority to remove him,”

Kathleen H. Hicks, a former top

Pentagon official in the Obama ad-

ministration, said in an email.

“The issue is one of poor judgment

in choosing to do so. They are fuel-

ing mistrust in leader transparen-

cy, among service members, fam-

ilies, and surrounding/hosting

communities.”

Ms. Hicks, who is now at the

Center for Strategic and Interna-

tional Studies in Washington, add-

ed that the episode “lays bare the

broader incompatibility in the De-

fense Department’s dual-track ap-

proach of attempting to tightly

control and centralize its strategic

communications at the same time

it has adopted a highly decentral-

ized approach to combating the

coronavirus.”

Representative Ruben Gallego,

Democrat of Arizona, is a former

enlisted Marine who saw heavy

combat in Iraq. In an interview

Friday, he described the Navy’s

actions in firing Captain Crozier

as “dangerous.”

“For the men and women on the

Roosevelt and across the Navy,

the message is this,” Mr. Gallego

said. “If the commander is looking

out for you and doesn’t go about it

the right way he’s going to get

punished. It’s dangerous, it’s go-

ing to impact morale and reten-

tion rates.”

Mr. Gallego pointed to the fir-

ings of the commanders of the

John McCain and the Fitzgerald,

two destroyers that were involved

in fatal accidents in 2017 that

killed 17 sailors. Those firings

came after months of investiga-

tions, while Captain Crozier was

fired within three days of his letter

becoming public.

Yet the Trump administration

has in several high-profile war

crimes cases chosen not to punish

those accused. President Trump,

for instance, granted clemency to

Chief Petty Officer Edward Galla-

gher, a Navy SEAL who was ac-

quitted of murder last year but

convicted of a lesser war crime.

For the military, a core issue is

that, as the virus spreads, it be-

comes increasingly difficult to

carry on with training and mis-

sions.

At U.S. military outposts

around the world, commanders

have stopped training alongside

local forces and instituted other

measures to seal off their troops

from the virus. Even so, the moves

are ultimately half measures as

the military, especially those who

are deployed, live in shared

spaces and can hardly practice

the social-distancing restrictions

that public health experts recom-

mend to curb the spread of the vi-

rus.

That problem is only amplified

in the Navy.

Each ship — with confined

berthing areas, mess halls and

shared bathrooms — is a cramped

cell where social distancing is

nearly impossible. Once the virus

gets on a ship, it is bound to

spread, both military officials and

infectious disease experts say. Al-

ready, Navy officials are worried

that other ships may become in-

fected.

Other branches of the military

are having issues as well.

Air Force warplanes are flying

fewer missions and conducting

fewer trainings, operating with

split shifts and split crews to limit

the exposure of personnel to the

virus. The Army has stopped

training for some units, the better

to limit chances of getting the vi-

rus.

As part of his extended explana-

tion of why he removed Captain

Crozier, Mr. Modly asserted at a

news conference Thursday that

the release of Captain Crozier’s

letter had panicked the crew and

family members, and embar-

rassed the Navy’s leadership.

“It undermines our efforts and

the chain of command’s efforts to

address this problem and creates

a panic,” he said. “And creates a

perception that the Navy’s not on

the job, the government’s not on

the job

But videos taken by crew mem-

bers aboard the Roosevelt and

posted on social media on Friday

seemed to contradict that assess-

ment.

The sailors on the Roosevelt did

not look panicked. Since Captain

Crozier’s letter first surfaced, the

Navy had evacuated hundreds off

the ship, with more each day. Dur-

ing Captain Crozier’s final walk off

the ship, many sailors could be

seen with their bags packed on the

floor next to them as they cheered

their departing captain.

It was a surreal scene, begin-

ning with Captain Crozier’s sol-

emn walk through the massive

ship’s sprawling hangar bay — a

snaking procession that wrapped

around a pair of dormant F/A-

fighter jets and into the cool Guam

night.

There was the ship’s bell, and

then its whistle. The crew, hun-

dreds of them, some in civilian

clothes, others in uniform, slowly

saluted as Captain Crozier walked

past with a black backpack slung

over his left shoulder.

“Captain, United States Navy,

departing,” a voice piped in over

the loudspeaker. As Captain

Crozier reached the gangway, the

slender ramp that stretched from

ship to shore, he turned back to-

ward his ship. His crew cheered.

The nearly half dozen videos

posted to social media, all from

different angles amid the throng

of sailors, include thundering

cheers of “Captain Crozier.” One

crew member yells, “Hooyah

skipper!” In another video, some-

one says, “Now that’s how you

send off one of the greatest cap-

tains you ever had... the GOAT,”

using the acronym for Greatest Of

All Time. “The man for the peo-

ple.”

MILITARY

Sailors Cheer On Boss They Feel Put Their Safety Above His Career

This article is by Helene Cooper,
Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Eric
Schmitt.

Capt. Brett E. Crozier in December 2019 aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. He was

fired by the Navy after he wrote to his superiors demanding help as the coronavirus hit his crew.

U.S. NAVY, VIA REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The Trump
administration is using a Korean
War-era law to redirect to the
United States surgical masks
manufactured by 3M in other
countries as part of a heated pres-
sure campaign to force the Minne-
sota company to cut off sales of
surgical masks abroad.
The policy is a significant ex-
pansion of the American govern-
ment’s reach and a reversal of
President Trump’s hesitant use of
the Defense Production Act,
which allows the administration
to force a company to prioritize
the U.S. government over compet-
ing orders.
But in this case, the administra-
tion is invoking the law to compel
3M to send to the United States
masks made in factories overseas
and to stop exporting masks the
company manufactures in the
United States. Those moves, some
trade and legal experts fear, could
backfire and prompt foreign gov-
ernments to clamp down on des-
perately needed medical necessi-
ties destined for the United States.
On Friday evening, the Trump
administration issued an execu-
tive order directing federal emer-
gency management and health of-
ficials to use the law’s authority to
preserve respirators, surgical
masks and surgical gloves for do-
mestic use.
In an accompanying statement,
Mr. Trump criticized “wartime
profiteers,” which he said includ-
ed speculators, warehouse opera-
tors and some well-established
distributors with the ability to
“unscrupulously” divert inven-
tory from hospitals and state gov-
ernments to foreign purchases
that are willing to pay a premium.
“Nothing in this order will inter-
fere with the ability of P.P.E. man-
ufacturers to export when doing

so is consistent with United States

policy and in the national interest

of the United States,” the state-

ment added, referring to makers

of personal protective equipment.

Peter Navarro, the White

House trade adviser who has been

put in charge of policy related to

the act, leveled a broadside on Fri-

day against 3M, all but accusing it

of disloyalty.

“While hundreds of other large

American multinationals are step-

ping up with pride and patriotism,

3M remains an outlier and its

propaganda war must stop,” Mr.

Navarro said in an interview, add-

ing that the company was “operat-

ing like a sovereign profit-maxi-

mizing nation internationally.”

In a segment on Fox News

Thursday night, Jared Moskowitz,

the director of the Florida Divi-

sion of Emergency Management,

said that 3M officials had told him

they could not fulfill the state’s or-

der for protective gear until they

satisfied contracts for foreign

customers.

In a statement on Friday, 3M de-

fended its actions and said the ad-

ministration had also asked it to

stop exporting respirators made

in the United States to Canada and

Latin America — a request it said

carried “significant humanitarian

implications” for people in those

areas.

Mr. Navarro denied the admin-

istration had made that demand,

but he said the White House was

using the wartime act to provide

“all of the N95 respirators it can

possibly muster to prevent Ameri-

cans from dying.”

He accused the company of di-

verting supplies from hospitals

and health care providers over-

seas to make a profit.

3M said that the administration

had used the Defense Production

Act to request that the company

increase the number of respira-

tors that it imported into the

United States from its overseas

operations, and that it was com-

plying. This week, 3M said, it se-

cured approval from China to ex-

port to the United States 10 million

N95 respirators that the company

manufactures there.

But the company warned

against moves to stop its exports.

“Ceasing all export of respira-

tors produced in the United States

would likely cause other countries

to retaliate and do the same, as

some have already done,” 3M

said. “If that were to occur, the net

number of respirators being made

available to the United States

would actually decrease. That is

the opposite of what we and the

administration, on behalf of the

American people, both seek.”

That plea was ignored at the

White House on Friday, where the

president and Mr. Navarro ap-

peared determined to wage war

on 3M.

“All we get from the C.E.O. on

down to the head of their P.R. de-

partment is lie upon lie, the latest

of which — which is dead wrong —

is that we demanded 3M not send

production from its U.S. plants to

our friends and allies in Canada

and Mexico,” Mr. Navarro said.

The tense fight between the ad-

ministration and the manufactur-

ing company comes as countries

around the world are scrambling

to secure protective gear, the fed-

eral government’s national stock-

pile has dwindled and states have

been left to compete with one an-

other and with the federal govern-

ment for a limited supply of medi-

cal supplies sold around the globe.

When the Federal Emergency

Management Agency finds and

procures medical gear overseas,

the administration takes 20 per-

cent of that while 80 percent is is-

sued to the private sector for dis-

tribution, agency officials said.

FEMA keeps a small portion of

that 20 percent while helping dis-

tribute the rest to places strug-

gling with the outbreak, officials

said, adding that the next ship-

ment would be sent to New York,

New Jersey and New Orleans.

When the private sector pro-

cures the equipment from abroad,

the federal government controls

the distribution of roughly half of

the supplies.

Local hospitals and states have

accused the federal government

of swooping in at the last second to

claim deliveries of protective gear

for ambulance drivers, fire fight-

ers, police and hospital workers.

Garren Colvin, the head of the

board for the Kentucky Hospital

Association, wrote to members of

Congress on Thursday saying

four shipments of protective gear

were taken by the Federal Emer-

gency Management Agency be-

fore they could be delivered to the

local hospitals that had originally

contracted for the supplies.

FEMA officials said the agency

was using the routine procure-

ment process and was simply out-

bidding local governments and

states on certain procurements.

The federal agency has been

forced to not only expand its

search for medical equipment

across the globe but also be judi-

cious with the lifesaving supplies

it distributes to states. FEMA this

week began sending a question-

naire to states seeking ventila-

tors, asking about available re-

sources and whether hospitals

had tried converting anesthesia

machines.

The questionnaire also advised

that states should not expect a de-

livery of ventilators unless pa-

tients were at risk of dying within

72 hours without the devices.

And in using the Defense Pro-

duction Act, Mr. Navarro again

cited the scarce availability of re-

sources.

The act gives the administra-

tion expansive powers to secure

supplies, including forcing a com-

pany to prioritize the federal gov-

ernment’s contract or even deter-

mining the distribution of prod-

ucts made by a company like 3M.

For years, the Defense Depart-

ment, including under the Trump

administration, has used the law

to prioritize thousands of orders.

But some administration offi-

cials worry that the Defense Pro-

duction Act is now being weap-

onized against specific compa-

nies. Others warned that using the

act to control a company’s over-

seas production would put that

company in the difficult position

of being forced to violate its previ-

ous obligations to foreign

customers.

GOVERNMENT POWERS

Trump Invokes Wartime Law to Acquire Masks Made Overseas by 3M

This article is by Ana Swanson,
Zolan Kanno-Youngsand Maggie
Haberman.

Ana Swanson and Zolan Kanno-
Youngs reported from Washing-
ton, and Maggie Haberman from
New York. Jonathan Martin con-
tributed reporting from Washing-
ton, and Jack Nicas from Oakland,
Calif.

Peter Navarro, left, the White House trade adviser, leveled a broadside against 3M, which runs a

factory in Shanghai, right, and manufactures medical gear like N95 respirators that the U.S. needs.

DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES HENRI SHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Attorney

General William P. Barr ordered

the Bureau of Prisons on Friday to

expand the group of federal in-

mates eligible for early release

and to prioritize those at three fa-

cilities where known coronavirus

cases have grown precipitously,

as the virus threatens to over-

whelm prison medical facilities

and nearby hospitals.

Mr. Barr wrote in a memo to Mi-

chael Carvajal, the director of the

Bureau of Prisons, that he was in-

tensifying the push to release

prisoners to home confinement

because “emergency conditions”

created by the coronavirus have

affected the ability of the bureau

to function.

He directed the bureau to pri-

oritize the release of prisoners

from federal correctional institu-

tions in Louisiana, Connecticut

and Ohio, which comprise the bulk

of the system’s 91 inmates and 50

staff members who have tested

positive for the coronavirus.

At least five prisoners have died

at the federal prison in Oakdale,

La., and two have died at the fed-

eral prison near Elkton, Ohio. Offi-

cials with unions that represent

prison workers have said that the

reported numbers are likely un-

dercounting the number of in-

fected staff, given the paucity of

testing.

“We are experiencing signifi-

cant levels of infection at several

of our facilities,” Mr. Barr said in

the memo. He said that where ap-

propriate the bureau must quickly

“move vulnerable inmates out of

these institutions.”

The memo was first reported by

Politico.

Last week, Mr. Barr asked the

bureau to identify and release all

inmates who were eligible for

home confinement, no longer

posed a threat to the public and

were particularly vulnerable to

the coronavirus. After that direc-

tive, 522 of the system’s 146,000 to-

tal inmates were moved to home

confinement, according to the Bu-

reau of Prisons.

On Friday, Mr. Barr expanded

that cohort of people eligible for

release to home confinement, ex-

ercising an authority granted to

him by the $2 trillion economic

stabilization package signed into

law last week by President

Trump.

That expanded group includes

“all at-risk inmates — not only

those who were previously eligi-

ble for transfer,” Mr. Barr wrote in

his memo.

Citing a lack of resources, he

also authorized the bureau to re-

lease inmates to home confine-

ment without electronic monitors,

where appropriate.

The coronavirus has ripped

through the nation’s jails and pris-

ons, where it is impossible for

guards and inmates to maintain

social distancing.

In an attempt to slow the spread

of the virus, authorities nation-

wide have released thousands of

inmates, primarily from state and

local facilities, where the majority

of all incarcerated people reside.

This week, the bureau said that

all 122 facilities in the federal pris-

on system would be on lockdown

for two weeks to slow the spread.

On Monday, Representative

Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New

York and the chairman of the

House Judiciary Committee,

urged Mr. Barr to “institute ag-

gressive measures to release

medically compromised, elderly

and pregnant prisoners,” in order

to stem the health crisis in the fed-

eral prison system.

Mr. Nadler also asked that the

Justice Department begin univer-

sal coronavirus testing in all fed-

eral prison facilities. But law en-

forcement agents have pushed

back on early release more

broadly, arguing that doing so

could overwhelm law enforce-

ment, particularly probation and

pretrial services officers.

Once an inmate leaves prison,

probation and pretrial services of-

ficers “supervise those formerly

incarcerated individuals and en-

sure they no longer pose a threat

to the American people,” Larry

Cosme, the national president of

the Federal Law Enforcement Of-

ficers Association, said in a state-

ment on Monday.

“It is imperative that law en-

forcement has the personnel, pro-

tective equipment, and appropri-

ate compensation needed to carry

out their important duties,” Mr.

Cosme said.

In his memo, Mr. Barr said that

prisoners who had committed se-

rious criminal acts such as violent

crimes or sex offenses would not

be released in order to protect

public safety. And he noted that

the release of prisoners comes at a

time when police forces across the

country are shrinking as officers

are exposed to the coronavirus.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Barr Pushes

Early Exits

At Prisons

Hit by Virus

By KATIE BENNER