WASHINGTON, 28 April. - (ANA) - Ten Democratic senators accused Defense Secretary Mark Esper of leading a “disjointed and slow” Pentagon response to the coronavirus crisis that has passed the buck to lower-level commanders, confused U.S. troops and their families, and put their health second to the military’s ability to fight.  

 

“We write to express our grave concern,” begins an eight-page letter sent to the Defense Department on Monday that argues civilian leadership has “failed to act sufficiently quickly” to direct the U.S. military’s response to the coronavirus. 

 

“Your inability or unwillingness to issue clear, Department-wide guidance has forced the services and local commanders to make their own decisions on a case-by-case basis,” the lawmakers wrote. “The Department’s civilian leadership can and must do more to ensure the health of servicemembers and their families.”

 

The Pentagon’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has been under particular scrutiny partly due to the controversy surrounding the outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the aircraft carrier in the Pacific whose captain was fired after a letter warning Navy leaders that his crew was in danger appeared in the press. Additionally, service members and lower-echelon commanders have privately raised fears that the Defense Department wasn’t doing enough to protect them from the spread of the virus. 

 

Esper has sought to push decision-making on COVID-19 mitigation efforts down to individual commanders at bases and on ships worldwide, whom Pentagon leadership believed were best positioned to decide what measures were necessary to protect service members under their authority. But that policy has caused confusion across the department and resulted in a mixed bag of policies that has endangered some troops, civilians and their families.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/28 April 2020 - - -