Ensign and four chiefs charged for leaking F-35 crash video
Leaking is only OK if you work in Congress (particularly Adam Schiff’s office) or for the National Security Council. I thought everyone knew this?
From Navy Times;
A Navy officer and four senior enlisted leaders are facing non-judicial punishment in connection to the leak of shipboard video footage showing the harrowing Jan. 24 crash of an F-35C Lightning II jet on the deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson while the ship was deployed to the South China Sea.
The video shows the jet hitting the deck, catching fire and then sliding the length of the carrier before falling into the sea.
A Navy ensign, a senior chief and three chiefs have all been charged with failure to obey an order under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Naval Air Forces spokesman Cmdr. Zach Harrell declined to identify the accused or confirm where their cases are in the legal process.
While the investigation into the leaked video is complete, the investigation into the crash remains ongoing, Harrell said.
The Navy has yet to salvage the wreckage. Seven sailors were injured in the mishap, including the pilot who ejected.
“We remain grateful to the highly trained Sailors aboard Carl Vinson who immediately responded to ensure that the pilot was recovered from the water, all injured personnel were cared for, and flight deck was cleared and re-set for operations,” Harrell said in a statement. “After a short pause in accordance with safety procedures, the rapid response from the crew enabled flight operations resume with minimal impact to mission requirements.”
U.S. Naval Institute News first reported the charges.
Navy Times’s sister news site, Defense News, reported this week that the crash severed all four of the arresting cables on the Vinson’s deck, which are used to catch and stop landing jets.
The Vinson’s crew had the deck cleared and ready to resume launches and landings within 45 minutes, Defense News reported.
Category: Dick Stepping, Navy
I am sure some senior folks are embarrassed about this but it’s not like this was a real secret deal. IMO the leak was hardly worthy of the attention brought to the folks who “leaked” it. After all it is an example of transparency.
If there can be one glimmer of hope in this it’s in the last sentence: “The Vinson’s crew had the deck cleared and ready to resume launches and landings within 45 minutes”
We’ve read so much in past years about outright failures in the Navy. Reading that the deck could be cleared, FOD walkdown complete and enough cross-deck pendants replaced on the arresting cables to resume ops is encouraging.
Concur. 45 minutes indicates a very highly trained and capable flight deck crew.
Lest stay positive here.
It least it was not child porn.
Question would be: Why did they leak this info? Did they do it for the LOLz? Or did they do it to expose information the Navy was trying to cover up, i.e. were they “whistle blowers?” I’m assuming that current operations of aircraft (particularly new aircraft) are considered to be, at the very least, confidential information, right?
Which makes me wonder why this is being handled as a Captain’s Mast/ART 15 proceeding rather than something more serious? Unauthorized disclosure of classified material is not like being AWOL for monday morning formation or getting a DUI. It is (or should be) as serious matter.
Unless you work for Hillary of course.
Most likely because it’s an unauthorized disclosure of privileged Naval Aviation safety mishap investigation evidence (the video), rather than an unauthorized disclosure of any classified material.
There’s nothing “classified” in that video.
Yeah, I’m thinking someone pulled something off of SIPR side of the NMCI network and shared it around the ship locally, or something along those lines.
I think it was even lower tech than that. The video leak I say looked like it was a cell phone video of a monitor aboard Vinson.
“it’s an unauthorized disclosure of privileged Naval Aviation safety mishap investigation evidence (the video)”
“The video leak I say looked like it was a cell phone video of a monitor aboard Vinson.”
Which means it does not belong to the navy then. Just demand a general or summary courts martial and the matter will be dropped.
Not classified in the traditional sense but at the very least it is FOUO at least until the investigation is complete. The Navy then would release the videos for public viewing.
How many of us watched those videos of planes landing on board WW2 carriers in the pacific with all sorts of mishaps.
During WWII??? Like nobody unless they were investigating the crash. The government did everything it could to bury bad news during the war.
Back to the future. Some things never change.
Navy Vought F-7U Cutlass ramp strike aboard USS HANCOCK (CVA-19) 14 July 1955.
F-0837 Vought F7U Cutlass Carrier Crash on USS Hancock Video – YouTube
Saved round: my Dad always said that Westinghouse toasters put out more heat than the F-7U “Gutless” Cutlass’s Westinghouse J46 engines’ afterburners did.
Just NJP? Lucky for the senior enlisted maroons, Navy Chiefs (E-7 to E-9) and Marine Staff NCOs (E-6 to E-9) can’t be demoted by NJP (careers are probably toast, though). In the Army & Air Force, an 0-6 commanding officer can pull a stripe at NJP at least up to E-7 level.
Just refuse the captains mast, it is your right and demand a court martial. %99 of the time the command simply drops the matter because they do not want to look like fools who cannot control an enlisted man.
I was actually given this advice by a JAG lawyer years ago and used it over a simple matter where 7 other guys were demoted and I went unpunished. Matter of fact I got promoted less than a year after the incident.
I think it is fair. Another question of “what the hell were you thinking?” People get a case of the stupid sometimes.
Welp, we said this would be coming…and here we are. BZ to the deck hands that cleaned up the mess.
Now the $64K question is…do we find the wreck before the ChiComs do? Not that they need the wreck, they probably have more info on that aircraft than we do.
They want it so they can steal whatever they haven’t bribed Joke Biteme & Company for.
45 minute turn around time. I am suitably impressed.