Stevenson’s army, April 7

– Is it cynical to believe that Peter Navarro’s Jan & Feb memos warning about the severity of the pandemic have been leaked to multiple news outlets only now, after news came out regarding his shouting match with Dr Fauci about unproven virus treatments?

-Is it cynical to wonder why the Justice Dept gave an exclusive report to a Politico reporter boasting of its new push against China in multiple efforts?
Of course not. That’s the way the leaking game is played.
NYT has more on the civ-mil clash over Capt. Crozier and the TR. Acting SecNav Modly overruled the advice of senior Navy officers in deciding on immediate relief of command. 

Defense One editor says Modly and Esper are dangerously putting the military back into politics.  I think the incident also shows the consequences of Acting officials: they are always more timid than a Senate-confirmed official and often seem to be auditioning for a permanent appointment. Why else would Modly preemptively do what he thinks Trump would like?

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).