Pentagon Officials Are Alarmed Trump Revealed Submarine Locations to Philippines' President
Officials at the Pentagon are in disarray after a transcript of the call between President Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte revealed Trump bragged about the locations of two U.S. nuclear submarines near North Korea, reported Buzzfeed News.
On April 29, Trump phoned Duterte about a possible strike on North Korea using the submarines. A transcript of the conversation was recently published by the online publication The Intercept.
“We have a lot of firepower over there,” Trump said in the transcript. “We have two submarines — the best in the world — we have two nuclear submarines — not that we want to use them at all. I’ve never seen anything like they are but we don’t have to use this but he could be crazy so we will see what happens.”
Historically, no one in the U.S. Defense Department reveals any information about submarine locations, especially since keeping their movements hidden is crucial.
When Pentagon officials were made aware of Trump’s conversation, they were very alarmed.
“We never talk about subs!” three officials told BuzzFeed News.
Trump and Duterte also spoke of the drug problem in the Philippines.
“Keep up [the] good work, you are doing an amazing job,” Trump told Duterte, who has been criticized by human rights groups for the extrajudicial killings of drug users.
Trump’s disclosure of information regarding U.S. submarine locations is particularly odd because the Philippines is not aiding U.S. military efforts to deter North Korea.