On May 23, 2022, the Pentagon had a virtual meeting with Ukrainian defense officials. The event, bedecked with U.S. and Ukrainian flags, was hosted by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, along with Gen. Mark Milley and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia Laura Cooper.
And the Ukrainian flags were upside down.[1]
I can just imagine how this idiocy happened. The DOD’s Chief of Protocol, Sarah Farnsworth, who probably holds the civilian rank of a full-bird colonel, ordered those flags placed. Some poor, young captain on the staff, knowing better, almost certainly tried to tell her team that the Ukrainian flags were upside down. If so, he was told to shut up and mind his own business. The result was DOD walking right into a bear trap.
During the American Civil War, General U.S. Grant once remarked that fellow general George Meade had such a violent temper that it made it difficult at times, “even in battle, for those around him to approach him even with information.”[2] I have seen this scenario countless times, to the point where subordinates simply refuse to provide information to a senior leader because they didn’t want to be treated with condescension, screamed at, or more importantly, have their career undercut because they received the label of not being a “team player.”
While many have spoken of nefarious conspiracies surrounding the assassination attempt on President Trump, I think it is more likely a scenario of hubris, incompetence and downright stupidity among mid-level and senior security leaders. We already know that Trump’s usual secret service team was swapped out for a group with less experience and competence. Add to this the vitriol of condemnation of Trump in the main stream media and the circle of potential violence was complete.
And that brings me to the water tower.
This was located to the northeast, about 250 yards from where Trump was speaking, and about 150 yards from where the shooter positioned himself. An observer placed on the tower’s walkway could have seen nearly everything to the west and south. Moreover, they would have clearly seen the shooter, now known to have already been ID’d as a “person of interest,” climb up the ladder to gain access to his firing position. The fact that an Observation Point (OP) was not placed on the tower indicates the utter lack of foresight, poor planning and downright laziness of the security team’s leadership. I’m sure one of the rank-and-file personnel either tried to suggest an OP on the tower and was told to watch his own lane.
Some have noted that there may have been somebody on top of the tower, but the video is blurry and difficult to determine if this is the case. But if so, it only serves to be more damning evidence against government officials who failed in their mission. If they indeed had somebody up their watching, there is no reason why they couldn’t see the shooter inching his way along the roof. Moreover, they could have directed local law enforcement to the shooter’s ladder, allowing them to follow him and stop him before he was in place.
Now we come full circle back to the DOD event on May 23, 2022. Not only did the protocol folks fail, but didn’t Austin, Milley or Cooper even notice that the Ukrainian flags were upside down? Of course not.
The sad reality is that the incompetence of our leaders and managers in government has to be experienced first-hand to be believed. There may have been a conspiracy on July 13, but perhaps we need to consider a conspiracy of simple stupidity.
Screenshot of DOD video of the 23 May 2022 event.
Russ Rodgers has several books published on Amazon.
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- https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-ukraine-flag-upside-down-press-conference-2022-5. By the way, even the way the article is written demonstrates stupidity, claiming that the flag “appeared” to be hung upside down. We have now gone down the road of such post-modern imbecility that we cannot site obvious facts without qualifiers. ↑
- Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1990, II:LXX, p. 770-71. ↑
As a former protective professional myself who had the mentorship of several Secret Service retirees when I was working up for and working my detail back in my college days, I *want* to write a piece explaining blow by blow how this was a complete and total By The Numbers Poochscrew, but I can’t get past the shock, the outrage, and the Righteous Indignation at the personal slap in the face these Keystone Kops give all us protective professionals everywhere via every hour they continue to blight our craft with their continued employment in it.
Their next duty stations should be as meter maids.