Photo: Electric Boat
Any reporter covering southeastern Connecticut, Electric Boat, or the Groton submarine base knows that one of the principal* advantages of submarine warfare and guiding ethos of service in the submarine community is silence.
So it is somewhat shocking and insulting to the entire submarine community to read that the former president of the United States may have openly shared sensitive information about U.S. submarine capabilities with members of his golf club in Florida.
If reports from ABC News and The New York Times are accurate,** while thousands of men and women serving long patrols across the globe on behalf of their country are cut off from their families in order to maintain operational security, their former commander in chief was spilling their secrets – our secrets – just to show off.
This is a national story with Connecticut implications that are especially appalling.
*Principal, as an adjective, most often means “most important, consequential, or influential” (as in “the principal ingredient of the dish is, unfortunately, anchovies”).
**Nearly every well sourced report on behavior unbecoming a president of the United States during the Trump era has later been confirmed on the record to be accurate.
