Richard Spencer is the former secretary of the Navy. The case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was charged with multiple war crimes before being convicted of a single lesser charge earlier this year, was troubling enough before things became even more troubling over the past few weeks. Our system of military justice has helped build the world’s most powerful navy; good leaders get promoted, bad onesget moved out, and criminals are punished. Earlier this year, Gallagher was formally charged with more than a dozen criminal acts, including premeditated murder, which occurred during his eighth deployment overseas. He was tried in a military court in San Diego and acquitted in July of all charges, except one count of wrongfully posing for photographs with the body of a dead Islamic State fighter. The jury sentenced himto four months, the maximum possible; because he had served that amount of time waiting for trial, he was released. I came to believe that Trump’s interest in the case stemmed partly from the way the defendant’s lawyers andothers hadworked to keep it front and center in the media. The next day, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone called me and said the president would remain involved. Shortly thereafter, I received a second call from Cipollone, who said the president would order me to restore Gallagher to the rank ofchief. It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices. Given my desire to resolve a festering issue, I tried to find a way that would prevent the president from further involvement while trying all avenues to get Gallagher’s file in front of a peer-review board. I also began to work without personally consulting Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on every step. The next day, the Navy established a review board to decide the status of Gallagher’s Trident pin. But the question was quickly made moot: On Nov. 21, the president tweeted that Gallagher would be allowed to keep his pin — Trump’s third intervention in the case. But I did not believe it to be an official order, chiefly because every action taken by the president in the case so far had either been a verbal orwritten command. Our allies need to know that we remain a force for good, and to please bear with us as we move through this moment in time. In pictures: The best images from around the world this week [Photos] The Bank of Lisbon building is seen imploding on Nov. 24. The iconic building has been demolished after it was deemed structurally unfit following a 2018 fire which lasted three days and claimed the lives of three firefighters. Cruz had been shot by a member of the riot squad police (Esmad) in a demonstration to demand better access to education and succumbed to his injuries two days later.
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