Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly apologized to Capt. Brett Crozier and the USS Theodore Roosevelt’s crew after calling the commander “stupid” in a speech on Monday morning. “Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid,” Modly wrote in a statement. “I think, and always believed him to be the opposite. We pick our carrier commanding officers with great care.” Capt. Crozier was fired last week after a letter was published in The San Francisco Chronicle in which he begged the U.S. Navy for resources to isolate more than 100 sailors infected with the novel coronavirus on the aircraft carrier, saying “sailors do not need to die.” Capt. Crozier later tested positive for the virus. Modly said in a speech to the ship’s crew that the captain was either “too naive or too stupid” to be a leader and claimed that he intentionally leaked the letter to the media, which he said was a “betrayal.” 

“I believe, precisely because he is not naive and stupid, that he sent his alarming email with the intention of getting it into the public domain in an effort to draw public attention to the situation on his ship,” Modly continued. “I apologize for any confusion this choice of words may have caused.”