As you say, "Very often it is not about innocence or guilt, nor is it about right or wrong. It is about what someone can prove or disprove." The U.S. does not have a "justice" system. We have a system of jurisprudence that is based on adversarial contest, in which the side with the better lawyers or deeper pockets usually come out ahead.
Never forget, NCIS has a vested interest in pinning a crime on someone. It doesn't matter if they're guilty, it doesn't matter if they can secure a conviction. It only matters to them that they can "close" a case with an arrest. Everything after that is someone else's problem.
That's a problem with every police force, but municipal police and sheriff's deputies are accountable, and responsive to, the communities they serve.
The NCIS, on the other hand, is essentially accountable to no one.
The entire weight of Big Navy, and the unlimited resources of a federal police agency, against a guy who is almost the proverbial "Seaman Timmy"- CNO and a whole bunch of stars and eagles and oak leaves, and I'm sure a few fouled anchors found it a lot easier to go along with NCIS shafting a guy with no power, rather than face any consequences for their slipshod performance during an evolution notorious for disastrous fires. Who wouldn't want to toss Mays under the bus?
The worst part of the problem here is the 4 star level where they looked at both the Command Investigation and NCIS reports, and decided to go with NCIS and sweep the failures of the chain of command under the rug.
Next time, let's just have a lottery to see which non-rated sailor gets blamed. It's quicker that way.
How many people would have saved themselves thousands upon thousands of dollars if they would have just insisted on legal representation upon hearing "We'd like to talk to you about ..." from any law enforcement/investigative agency. Lots of very smart people have been trapped with previous statements or omissions after being told it was just an interview, etc.
A big part of the problem is these high-level investigations that are more focused on assigning blame than identifying and correcting systemic issues. It’s not just BHR, that happened in the ship collision cases and it’s happening right now with Red Hill. They don’t start from the presumption that good people are doing their best with what they have.
San Diego NCIS not have much luck making their cases stick lately, they dropped all the charges against an intel admiral involved in the fat Leonard case in September, next thing you know fat Leonard himself just walked away to parts unknown. Turns out he was on house arrest and nobody thought to keep an eye on him 15 minutes from the Mexican border…..
I think the Navy was looking for a scapegoat, they should return the young man to full duty and give him all the back pay that he lost because of this bs and should be given any choice of duty stations.
Dammit, where were the Chiefs? Chiefs are supposed to train JOs and stand up to LCDRs, CDRs, and CAPTs with the truth when and where needed. Chiefs advocate for the Chain down to the E1s and advocate for their sailors to the Os. Chiefs should be the first line of defense against the many flagrant procedural violations found by the Command Investigation. Chiefs are - or were - the bedrock of the Navy, and, in this case, utterly failed their sailors, their ship, and their mission.
I'm told that a Chief is no longer classified as a Board-appointed Chief Petty Officer and, therefore, are subject to NJP (not in my time). In my time, you had to do something so bad as to require a Courts Martial ("Marshall"??), otherwise, the worst thing an officer or senior civilian manager could do was incur their personal dislike if you had to stand with the truth of a situation against their notion.
Of course, in my day, all of us - male and female Chiefs - were initiated into the brotherhood.
As you say, "Very often it is not about innocence or guilt, nor is it about right or wrong. It is about what someone can prove or disprove." The U.S. does not have a "justice" system. We have a system of jurisprudence that is based on adversarial contest, in which the side with the better lawyers or deeper pockets usually come out ahead.
Never forget, NCIS has a vested interest in pinning a crime on someone. It doesn't matter if they're guilty, it doesn't matter if they can secure a conviction. It only matters to them that they can "close" a case with an arrest. Everything after that is someone else's problem.
That's a problem with every police force, but municipal police and sheriff's deputies are accountable, and responsive to, the communities they serve.
The NCIS, on the other hand, is essentially accountable to no one.
The entire weight of Big Navy, and the unlimited resources of a federal police agency, against a guy who is almost the proverbial "Seaman Timmy"- CNO and a whole bunch of stars and eagles and oak leaves, and I'm sure a few fouled anchors found it a lot easier to go along with NCIS shafting a guy with no power, rather than face any consequences for their slipshod performance during an evolution notorious for disastrous fires. Who wouldn't want to toss Mays under the bus?
The worst part of the problem here is the 4 star level where they looked at both the Command Investigation and NCIS reports, and decided to go with NCIS and sweep the failures of the chain of command under the rug.
Next time, let's just have a lottery to see which non-rated sailor gets blamed. It's quicker that way.
How many people would have saved themselves thousands upon thousands of dollars if they would have just insisted on legal representation upon hearing "We'd like to talk to you about ..." from any law enforcement/investigative agency. Lots of very smart people have been trapped with previous statements or omissions after being told it was just an interview, etc.
A big part of the problem is these high-level investigations that are more focused on assigning blame than identifying and correcting systemic issues. It’s not just BHR, that happened in the ship collision cases and it’s happening right now with Red Hill. They don’t start from the presumption that good people are doing their best with what they have.
San Diego NCIS not have much luck making their cases stick lately, they dropped all the charges against an intel admiral involved in the fat Leonard case in September, next thing you know fat Leonard himself just walked away to parts unknown. Turns out he was on house arrest and nobody thought to keep an eye on him 15 minutes from the Mexican border…..
Why would anyone join the Navy after reading this???
I've thought the same things. What a traumatic experience. He will never get the time he spent in custody back. Just a horrible abuse of power!
I think the Navy was looking for a scapegoat, they should return the young man to full duty and give him all the back pay that he lost because of this bs and should be given any choice of duty stations.
Dammit, where were the Chiefs? Chiefs are supposed to train JOs and stand up to LCDRs, CDRs, and CAPTs with the truth when and where needed. Chiefs advocate for the Chain down to the E1s and advocate for their sailors to the Os. Chiefs should be the first line of defense against the many flagrant procedural violations found by the Command Investigation. Chiefs are - or were - the bedrock of the Navy, and, in this case, utterly failed their sailors, their ship, and their mission.
I'm told that a Chief is no longer classified as a Board-appointed Chief Petty Officer and, therefore, are subject to NJP (not in my time). In my time, you had to do something so bad as to require a Courts Martial ("Marshall"??), otherwise, the worst thing an officer or senior civilian manager could do was incur their personal dislike if you had to stand with the truth of a situation against their notion.
Of course, in my day, all of us - male and female Chiefs - were initiated into the brotherhood.