The next day, the SO1 who lodged the initial allegations told NCIS agents that he’d previously gone to Portier and said a formal probe needed to be launched. The troop chief warned them that the “frag radius” of that and other allegations “would be significant” and likely hit other SEALs and their officers with disciplinary action, according to the NCIS report. The troop chief told investigators that it was during a March 18, 2018, briefing about that decision with six current or former members of Platoon Alpha that he first learned the specific allegation that Gallagher stabbed to death a detainee. Breisch, an officer in Gallagher’s chain of command and the troop chief’s boss.Īfter consulting with the group’s judge advocate general, the SEAL leaders decided that those who said they witnessed the war crimes should come forward and make official statements. The troop chief said that he repeated the allegations to both Group 1 Command Master Chief Steve Ward and Lt. It was then that the SO1 alluded to possible war crimes committed by Gallagher, the troop chief told investigators. The troop chief said he urged Gallagher to talk to his platoon to make things right and thought the unspecified issues “had been solved but he started getting calls from platoon members about (Gallagher).” The troop chief said “he could see doing that.”īut it was only after the deployment ended that the troop chief began to realize Gallagher’s platoon was riven by “hate and discontent," he told investigators. The troop chief recalled serving as sniper Gallagher’s spotter during a brief visit to Alpha when they were operating near the Tigris River in an area known as “Old Mosul.” During his interview, an NCIS agent told him that Gallagher was alleged to have made it his priority “to shoot as many people as possible with his sniper rifle.” The troop chief told investigators he’d mentored Gallagher over the phone in Iraq but had never taken disciplinary actions against him, even after the platoon chief had been accused of stealing nutrition bars from another SEAL’s gift bag. (screen shot of YouTube video used as evidence in criminal hearing)
The seriously wounded Islamic State fighter, believed to be between 15 and 17 years of age, military prosecutors believe was murdered by a Navy SEAL.
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