Diversity Menaces Supercarriers

Hokey Smokes. From War Is Boring.

Patch sketches a range of threats, from explosives-laden small boats to cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. He particularly emphasizes the danger posed by crafty, bloody-minded extremists. For one, “carrier crew size and diversity would likely allow unfettered access to clandestine infiltrators of almost any ethnicity,” Patch writes.

In other words, because there are so many people on carriers — up to 5,000 — some of them are bound to be brown-skinned. And the presence of brown-skinned sailors could make it easier for Islamic terrorists to sneak on board and sabotage the ship.

So how would one defend against such infiltration? Patch doesn’t say, but the implication, however indirect, is clear: fewer non-white sailors would help. In implying, even vaguely, that racial integration has weakened the carrier force, Patch plays into a sea swell of race anxiety in the Navy that outsiders rarely observe. Many in the Navy are unhappy with what they see as affirmative action gone out of control, to the detriment of our national security. “What core competency of the Navy is a diverse Navy supposed to represent?” blogger CDR Salamander asked.

We certainly can't answer that.