Rep. Dan Crenshaw Slams Emergency Response to Doomed Sub, Calls it ‘Epic Failure of Leadership’
Former Navy SEAL and current Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) had strong words about the emergency response to the missing OceanGate submersible this week, calling it an “epic failure of leadership.”
Crenshaw appeared on Fox News Thursday night, where host Trace Gallagher rolled tape from Crenshaw speaking to reporters on the steps of the Capitol.
“I have been hearing a lot of concerning things from people, the civilian side who are involved in this,” Crenshaw told reporters. “You know, we’ve got to look into it, see what’s true and what isn’t…What appears to be the case is epic failure in leadership. Where exactly that leadership failure is, I don’t know. Is it the White House, Coast Guard, Navy? I’m not sure.”
Crenshaw said that when he looked at the timeline from the moment they knew the submersible was missing on Sunday with five people on board, leadership failed to deploy two critical pieces of equipment — A 6K ROV and a Magellan submarine.
“Now, it’s important to note, that if you had just deployed those assets, they would have arrived on scene by Wednesday morning at the latest,” Crenshaw said. “That tapping continues to be heard and chatted about in all these channels throughout Wednesday. Then it stops late Wednesday. They finally deploy that 6K ROV, the only thing capable of actually going to that depth and seeing what’s down there, this morning. It deploys down there and the wreckage was exactly where they thought it would be. So where’s the failure here? The failure is to not put all your options on the table.
“You saw that Wall Street Journal article about, ‘The U.S. Navy heard this implosion, with their acoustic systems.’ So, what seems to me is that the leadership, the Coast Guard, was operating off of this assumption that that was an implosion. Now, other experts in this industry tell me that that could have easily been the sub just hitting the floor. And then you add that with this tapping, which was apparently like your standard procedure SOS, every half hour, you are hearing that throughout the day Tuesday and Wednesday, it begs the question — could this have been resolved differently if leadership had just acted sooner and actually put options on the table instead of just assuming, well it doesn’t matter because they’re dead. “
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
