Navy and 'Great Influenza' Changed the World

Review by Bill Doughty

One hundred years ago another wave of an influenza epidemic crashed on America's shores.

(Illustration from Penn Medicine News)

"By February 7, 1920, Influenza had returned with enough ferocity that the Red Cross declared, 'Owing to the rapid spread of influenza, the safety of the country demands, as a patriotic duty, that all available nurses or anyone with experience in nursing ... (offer) their services," according to John M. Barry, author of "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" (Viking/Penguin, 2014).

Courage in the Face of Fear

Fortunately, the epidemic did not hit with the same deadly force throughout 1920 that it had in the previous two years. 

The epidemic of 1918 erupted with such speed and scope that it created worldwide fear and terror. This influenza seemed to target young, otherwise healthy, adults as well as people with vulnerable immune systems.

"In 1918 fear moved ahead of the virus like the bow wave before a ship. Fear drove the people, and the government and the press could not control it. They could not control it because every true report had been diluted with lies. And the more the officials and newspapers reassured, the more they said, 'There is no cause for alarm if proper precautions are taken,' ... the more people believed themselves cast adrift, adrift with no one to trust, adrift on an ocean of death."

The misnamed "Spanish Flu" of 1918 (Barry makes a strong case that it originated in Kansas) took more American lives in the first year (675,000) than all the U.S. service members who died fighting in WWI, WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam War combined. In one week in October, 4,597 Philadelphians died of the disease.

Paul Lewis

On the front lines of the war against the killer influenza epidemic – in laboratories and medical facilities – U.S. Navy and other military and civilian researchers searched for the pathogen as well as a vaccine and a cure.

This book is dedicated, in part, to one of those Navy warriors, and opens with a scene about him: "The Great War had brought Paul Lewis into the navy in 1918 as a lieutenant commander ..." Lewis had previously helped prove that a virus caused polio, "a discovery still considered a landmark achievement in the history of virology."

Lewis saw the early signs of disease in sailors in Philadelphia, where the virus was killing five percent of Sailors who showed any symptoms of influenza. 

In Boston, another Navy medical warrior, Lieutenant Commander Milton Rosenau at the Chelsea Naval Hospital, mobilized to fight the epidemic.

(Photo from Bureau of Medicine and Surgery)

"Rosenau too was a scientist who had chosen to leave a Harvard professorship for the navy when the United States entered the war, and his textbook on public health was called 'The Bible' by both army and navy military doctors."

Other military doctors and researchers who raced against the disease included William Henry Welch, Simon Flexner, Victor Vaughn and William Gorgas. Oswald Avery went from Army private to captain; he would eventually make "the most profound discovery of all" in his search for the cause of the disease.

The enemy in 1918 was not only the epidemic of disease, but also a pandemic of fear. "Uncertainty follows distrust, fear follows uncertainty, and, under conditions such as these, terror follows fear." Truth matters.

Emergency hospital in Funston, Kansas.

A Maritime Component

Author-historian Barry profiles each of these courageous warriors as well as dozens of other people who faced the crisis. He reveals the strong maritime component to its global spread.

(Photo from Naval History and Heritage Command)

The pandemic of 1918-1920 was fueled by WWI fervor and war mobilization – in crowded barracks and aboard ships, including international steamers and U.S. Navy vessels. Dozens of shipyards were hit and had to close. Naval hospitals were overwhelmed. Navy brig prisoners volunteered as test subjects for Lt. Cmdr. Lewis and other scientists.

Sailors unintentionally brought deadly influenza to Great Lakes Naval Training Center and Newport Naval Base in Rhode Island; to New Orleans and Puget Sound; back-and-forth to Europe; as well as across the Pacific aboard USS Logan to Guam. Adm. Albert Gleaves and his captains dealt with effects of the pandemic, including aboard USS Leviathan.

Navy collier USS Brutus carried a relief expedition to Juneau, Alaska. "They found terrible things. Terrible things," Barry writes. "In Nome, 176 of 300 Eskimos had died. But it would get worse." Other Red Cross relief teams to the Aleutian Islands found devastation caused first by the disease, then by starvation and finally by starving dogs.

Nineteen U.S. Navy nurses died on active duty during the war, more than half from influenza. One of the survivors was the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps, Chief Nurse Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, recipient of the Navy Cross and namesake of the first USS Higbee, commissioned in 1945. The keel was laid for the future USS Lenah H Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) in November 2017.



Changing the World

The epidemic of 1918-1920 occurred at a time when women increased demands for the right to vote, a right won 100 years ago. Women had supported the war effort in Europe, and they served on the front lines in the fight against the epidemic.

The nation and world changed in other ways too in those first decades of the 20th century. 

President Woodrow Wilson's physician, Navy Rear Adm. Cary Grayson (who had served as presidential physician to Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft) accompanied Wilson to the peace conference in Paris in 1919. Both Wilson and Grayson, as well as Wilson's wife and others, contracted influenza while in Paris.

President Wilson and Rear Adm. Grayson

Barry contends that the disease caused physical weakness and some mental lapses in the commander-in-chief and may have led to his stroke four months later. But the devastating effects of Wilson's bout with influenza also may have led to his concessions to the allied enemies of Germany in order to save his League of Nations.

"Historians with virtual unanimity agree that the harshness toward Germany of the Paris peace treaty helped create the economic hardship, nationalistic reaction, and political chaos that fostered the rise of Adolf Hitler," Barry writes. Feelings of persecution and resentment in Nazi Germany led to another world war.

Other ways the epidemic changed the world but for the better: Science, as represented by medical centers and researchers, triumphed over superstition. Corrupt local authoritarian governments in Philadelphia (the Vare political machine) and New York (Tammany Hall) were exposed and impeached in the court of public opinion. Truth and ethics were shown to be supremely important in the face of fear and terror.

"The media and public officials helped create that terror – not by exaggerating the disease but by minimizing it, by trying to reassure.Terror rises in the dark of the mind, in the unknown beast tracking us in the jungle. The fear of the dark is an almost physical manifestation of that. Horror movies build upon the fear of the unknown, the uncertain threat that we cannot see and do not know and can find no safe haven from. But in every horror movie, once the monster appears, terror condenses into the concrete and diminishes. Fear remains. But the edge of panic created by the unknown dissipates. The power of the imagination dissipates."

Cmdr. Richard Shope

Meanwhile, researcher Paul Lewis had remained perpetually restless both during and after the epidemic. The microscope was his periscope searching for an enemy lurking in his laboratory – "the mysteries he embraced. He settled into them like a man casting off into an impenetrable ocean fog, a fog that made one feel both alone in and part of the world.

"Among the warriors against fear was Paul Lewis's protege and assistant, Richard Shope. 

Shope investigated swine flu in the 1920s and by 1931 published his papers showing his discoveries. He included Lewis's name as an author on one of his papers.

Shope's research was successful. "He had found the cause of influenza, at least in swine," Barry writes. "We now know that the virus he found in swine descended directly from the 1918 virus, the virus that made all the world a killing zone."

In 1928, in England, Alexander Fleming serendipitously discovered penicillin while researching influenza. Oswald Avery's work on influenza led directly to the discovery of DNA, further changing the world.

Applied Science: Coronaviruses

Barry provides more than a history of the epidemic. He also explains coronaviruses, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and the science of the influenza virus at the cellular level, including the difference between a slower mutating DNA virus and a faster mutating RNA virus.

"Influenza is an RNA virus. So is HIV and the coronavirus. And of all the RNA viruses, influenza and HIV are among those that mutate the fastest," Barry writes.

"[O]ne cannot leave this subject without speaking to other questions: the likelihood and potential danger of another influenza pandemic, what we can learn from the one of 1918-1919, and how we can apply those lessons to the emergence of a new pathogen, whether that pathogen is a weapon of terror or a new natural menace – such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, the disease which spread from animals to man in the spring of 2003 and threatened to become a major pandemic.The answer to the first question – the likelihood and potential danger of another influenza pandemic – is not very reassuring. Every expert on influenza agrees that the ability of the influenza virus to reassort genes means that another pandemic not only can happen. It almost certainly will happen."

Barry offers a special discussion of the coronavirus SARS – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – that appeared in China in 2003 and spread quickly across borders bringing with it susceptibility to ARDS. The Navy forward deployed to the western Pacific was concerned about the possibility of SARS outbreaks in 2004. The Navy maintains a preventive medicine SARS webpage as part of Ready Navy. 

The Navy (Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center), DoD and Centers for Disease Control are leaning forward to provide information and prevention tips regarding the newly emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China.

Today, unlike 100-plus years ago, scientists throughout the world are able to communicate and collaborate within seconds. They can, if allowed, share information and assistance across borders. An informed public can make rational decisions and not succumb to fear. Medical scientists have more tools and information to fight against pandemics.

Read this book to see the fate of Paul Lewis after the war. 

Right up there with McCullough's sweeping history books, Barry's "The Great Influenza" is a masterpiece. This is a great Navy read.

Camp Lemonnier’s medical team gives influenza vaccinations to service members, Oct. 28-30, 2019. (U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Marquis Whitehead)

A Search for the Truth

by Bill Doughty

Who or what is the North Star, the Pole Star, of leadership?

Those who are educated in the West often rely on philosophers from ancient Greece, Judeo-Christian faith, Renaissance, and modern science to provide ethical, moral and practical principles on leadership.

A depiction of Master Kung - Confucius

What can the East, particularly Confucius ("Master Kung") – who influenced much of Asian thought and culture – say about leadership? Getting past the chauvinism and arguable misogyny of ancient times, there may be great value in learning advice from Asia's Pole Star on what it means to be a good leader.

In "Confucius: The Analects" translated by Arthur Waley (Alfred Knopf, 2000, first published 1938), "Master" refers to Confucius, and "gentleman" can be interpreted for our purposes as "leader" or "commander" or "CO."

From Book II:

1 The Master said, He who rules by moral force is like the pole-star, which remains in its place while all the lesser stars do homage to it.

2 The Master said, If out of the three hundred 'Songs' I had to take one phrase to cover all my teaching, I would say, 'Let there be no evil in your thoughts.'

3 The Master said, Govern the people by regulations, keep order among them by chastisements, and they will flee from you, and lose all self-respect. Govern them by moral force, keep order among them by ritual and they will keep their self-respect and come to you of their own accord.

Book IV:

2 The Master said, Without Goodness a man
Cannot for long endure adversity,
Cannot for long enjoy prosperity.

16 The Master said, A gentleman takes as much trouble to discover what is right as lesser men take to discover what will pay.

17 The Master said, In the presence of a good man, think all the time how you may learn to equal him. In the presence of a bad man, turn your gaze within!

Book XII:

16 The Master said, The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this.

Book XIII:

1 ... Lead them; encourage them! ... Untiringly.

2 ... Get as much as possible done by your subordinates. Pardon small offenses. Promote men of superior capacity ...

Statue of Confucius at Yushima Seido, Tokyo

6 The Master said, If the ruler himself is upright, all will go well even though he does not give orders. But if he himself is not upright, even though he gives orders, they will not be obeyed.

Book XV:

17 The Master said, The gentleman who takes the right as his material to work upon and ritual as the guide in putting what is right into practice, who is modest in setting out his projects and faithful in carrying them to their conclusion, he indeed is a true gentleman.

18 The Master said, A gentleman is distressed by his own lack of capacity; he is never distressed at the failure of others to recognize his merits.

19 The Master said, A gentleman has reason to be distressed if he ends his days without make a reputation for himself.

20 The Master said, 'The demands that a gentleman makes are upon himself; those that a small man makes are upon others.'

22 The Master said, A gentleman does not
Accept men because of what they say,
Nor reject sayings, because the speaker is what he is.

23 Tzu-kung asked, saying, Is there any single saying that one can act upon all day and every day? The Master said, Perhaps the saying about consideration: 'Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.'

Book XVI:

10 Master K'ung said, The gentleman has nine cares.

• In seeing he is careful to see clearly,
• in hearing he is careful to hear distinctly,
• in his looks he is careful to be kindly;
• in his manner to be respectful,
• in his words to be loyal,
• in his work to be diligent.
• When in doubt he is careful to ask for information;
• when angry he has a care for the consequences,
• and when he sees a chance of gain, he thinks carefully whether the pursuit of it would be consonant with the Right.

Right Matters

How do we know what "the Master" taught? Like Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha, Confucius had disciples who carried on, interpreted and reinterpreted his teachings about what is right.

Evidence of those teachings are found on ancient manuscripts on bamboo strips once buried in history, according to Yale lecturer and author Annping Chin.

In 1993 archeologists and scholars came into possession of two batches of "manuscripts" written on bamboo strips, some "pilfered by grave robbers and then sold on the Hong Kong antiques market before the manuscripts were bought, a few bundles at a time, by the Shanghai Museum," Chin writes.

"The texts were written around Mencius and Xunzi's time, 300 BC or earlier, before China was unified in the period known as 'the Warring States.'" What can the words on these bamboo strips tell us about life, moral cultivation and political thought in China before the Imperial Age?

From "The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics" by Annping Chin (Scribner, 2007):

"One Chinese paleographer I got to know told me about the risks of removing the ancient mud from the bamboo. As the strips lie in their cleaning solution, he said, and the words begin to emerge, some of the words literally rise from their bamboo surfaces, seeking flight or freedom in their demise. This is the closest I have come to thinking of words as alive. Sometime after, I made a wish. Even as I accept the impermanence of life, I said, I want words to be the exception – not all words, but surely words in the classics and histories, words of the early poems, philosopher's words, and the words of Confucius. I want them to stick around so that we can taste them again and again and play with their flavors in our head."

Anchored in Tradition

Author Michael Schuman – "Confucius: And the World He Created" (Perseus, 2015) – finds relevance for Confucianism for the world in general and China in particular – not to mention for leaders in the United States.

"The Confucius I have come to know over the course of researching this book ... was not a pawn of autocrats or a tool of suppression. That Confucius, though far from perfect, was a voice of boundless humanity and unswerving determination. He was a man who refused to compromise his principles for fame, wealth, or status. He would not submit to the will of immoral men or abusive regimes. He told the most powerful people of his day that they were wrong, directly to their faces. He judged men not by their riches or birth, but on their sincerity and benevolence. He could laugh at himself. He envisioned a society in which everyone fulfilled their responsibilities and placed the welfare of their families and communities over their own. He strove to transform a world convulsed by selfishness and war into one of selflessness and peace. He thought our society could be perfected if we first improved ourselves. Most of all, he thought that any one of us who took the time and made the effort to become a better person held the power to change the world."

Like the traditions of the U.S. Navy, the traditions of Confucianism promote rituals, manners, duty and "love of learning."

Schuman interprets "the Master's" position on authority and power: "No one, not even a person in a position of great power, is permitted to abuse that power," he writes. "The Confucian idea that people ought to blindly submit to anyone in a position of authority is beyond the Western mentality."

According to Confucius's Analects anchored in Schuman's book, "Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of propriety – then all within the four seas will be his brothers." Just as the Pole Star guides good leadership, an anchor can secure it.

Kobe Bryant: Self-Reflection, Work Ethic, Reading

By Bill Doughty

Kobe Bryant at Arlington, 2012.

Star of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania, NBA rookie Kobe Bryant was interviewed by anchor Tim Russert on Meet the Press in 1998. In the interview, the future #24 Lakers superstar spoke about what it takes to be a better individual in today's society: self-reflection, a strong work ethic and reading.

"I was fortunate to have a family ... a strong family background, wonderful mom and dad, two older sisters," Bryant acknowledged.

Russert asked him what advice he had for other young black men, many who did not have fathers living at home.

"In some cases they don't have somebody to love, to latch onto," Kobe said. "So I think they have to be strong individuals, dig deep inside themselves, look inside themselves, and not look for other venues, other negative paths to walk down, because there are so many of these in today's society."

He added, "So I tell them to dig deep inside, be patient, be strong, hit the books and work hard and continue to dream."

Kobe encouraged young people to follow their dreams and stand up to people who block those dreams. "If you have a goal, if you have something you want to accomplish, they put limits on you; they tell us what we can and cannot do. So I tell them to have faith in themselves."

Kobe Bryant of Team USA meets service members at a Hoops for Troops event in 2012.

Kobe Bryant became an NBA icon with the Los Angeles Lakers. He played on the U.S. national team at the Olympics. And he participated in Hoops for Troops, honoring the military and military families.

In 2012 Kobe, along with the United States Olympic men's basketball team, visited Arlington National Cemetery.

As part of the dream team led by Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Kobe acknowledged the importance of good coaching, respect, commitment, and devotion to his country. In his autobiography, "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play" (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2018), Kobe writes:

"Our nation means so much to Coach Krzyzewski. He really hammered home the significance of getting to represent our country. Everything he did – from having generals come to speak with us, having soldiers be a part of our preparation process, having us take tours of national monuments – was aimed at increasing our admiration and love for America. You could sense that in the way he had us playing, in the intensity we showed."

"The Mamba Mentality" offers advice and strategies, tactics and priceless insights and memories for young basketball players. Kobe writes, "What separates great players from all-time great players is their ability to self-assess, diagnose weaknesses, and turn those flaws into strengths."

Years ago, when asked what his son was like as a child, Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant said Kobe was studious and hardworking. “He was a good kid — he even cleaned his room,” Joe Bryant said, reminiscent of Navy Adm. William H. McRaven's advice in "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life ... and Maybe Change the World." 

Joe Bryant has a strong connection with Japan. He even gave his son a Japanese name.

Kobe's dad coached the Tokyo Apache and other teams. He visited military bases, including Yokosuka naval base several times in the 2000s and practiced with Sailors of USS Kitty Hawk as well as speaking to young athletes and military families. 

Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, father of Kobe Bryant and coach of the Tokyo Apache basketball team, signs autographs and talks to fans after the game Feb. 7, 2007 at Yokota Air Base's Samurai Fitness Center. Bryant also played during the last half of the game. Tokyo Apache, a Japanese professional basketball team, took on the Yokota Warriors varsity team here and walked away with the win, 96 - 74. (U.S. Air Force photo by Mark Allen)

According to Pacific Stars and Stripes, Joe Bryant "has a message for everyone: 'To have a dream, to have a fantasy and to have a goal.'" 

His words are echoed by his son in Kobe's interview with Tim Russert. So are his words about hitting the books:

“Once you have that, all it takes is a work ethic,” Joe Bryant said. “If you don’t have homework, then you read ahead in your textbook. You do the next page in your workbook. In school, as in life, you have to do the extra work to get better in anything.”

Our thoughts, memories and condolences are with the Bryant family and the families of all those lost in the tragic helicopter crash Sunday that killed Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan.

Kobe Bryant and Jerry Colangelo place a wreath on behalf of the U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball team at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Va., Jul. 15, 2012. (Department of Defense photo by D. Myles Cullen)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, left, and Kobe Bryant talk at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, July 15, 2012. (Department of Defense photo by D. Myles Cullen)

Courage of a King and a Miller

by Bill Doughty

For this first post of 2020, here's a brief look at one of the Navy core values: Courage. This insight comes from an essay by Philip J. Ivanhoe published in Barbara Darling-Smith's "Courage" (University of Notre Dame Press, 2002).

East and West meet in Ivanhoe's discussion of "The Virtue of Courage in the Mencius," comparing Aristotle and Confucian disciple Mengzi and their concepts of fear and courage.

Doris "Dorie" Miller, awarded the Navy Cross by Adm. Nimitz for his courage at Pearl Harbor.

"Aristotle describes courage as a blend of controlling fear and being properly inspired to act," Ivanhoe writes. "He insists that a courageous person must to some degree feel fear and that controlling this feeling is part of what constitutes courage."

Similarly, Mengzi believed that true courage, or "great courage" comes from overcoming fear through a strong base of personal ethics – core values. 

Ivanhoe says "The truly courageous person must rationally assess the danger to be faced and deliberate about how to struggle against it to best realize the good for himself and others."

The virtues of an enlisted Sailor who assessed danger in the attack on Pearl Harbor and took matters into his own hands aboard USS West Virginia (BB 48). His heroism is remembered today as the Navy names a future aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 84). Doris "Dorie" Miller was killed at sea during World War II.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. monument, Washington D.C. (NPS)

After the war, Dorie Miller was a key influence to Americans who showed courage during the fight for Civil Rights Movement, a movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Examples of courage are not restricted to the battlefield.

"...If we conceive of courage as that excellent trait of character that enables people to pursue the good through the difficult and dangerous, then there is nothing inherent in such a conception that would restrict it to cases of combat. A firefighter who puts himself in danger to rescue a child from a burning building and a worker [whistleblower] who risks her livelihood or life fighting corporate greed in order to better the lives of her fellow workers are equally displaying courage in this sense. This broader conception of courage would also enable us to appreciate more fully cases where courage is manifested as an ability to persevere in the face of adversity rather than erupting in episodic bursts of action. The person who carries on in good cheer while suffering from a debilitating medical condition, and the prisoner of war or conscience who endures prolonged physical and psychological abuse and yet remains steadfast in his cause, require a broader and more nuanced conception of courage. One of the most profound and remarkable manifestations of courage is found in the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. For he risked and sacrificed everything in his remarkably patient, lifelong pursuit of the good. His example shows how far removed the concept of courage as a virtue is from violent and episodic displays of bravado. For he was explicitly dedicated to nonviolence and love in his struggle to realize the good."

Ivanhoe's essay, along with other essays in Darling-Smith's "Courage," provide scholarly looks at the nature of this core value, nearly inseparable from the other Navy values of Honor and Commitment.

PEARL HARBOR (Jan. 20, 2020) The Honorable Eddie Bernice-Johnson, United States representative from the 30th district of Texas, left, speaks at the unveiling of the new Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) at a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration event on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly look on. This will be the second ship named in honor of Miller, and the first aircraft carrier ever named for an African American and an enlisted Sailor. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 2nd Class Justin R. Pacheco)

Sailors & Marines First Whistleblowers

Review by Bill Doughty

Even as Americans fought to become a nation, some of the first Sailors and Marines stood up for honor, courage and commitment by reporting to Congress the unethical corruption and abusive misconduct of their commodore, Capt. Esek Hopkins.

And Congress stood up for them.

Two hundred and forty-two years ago – January 2, 1778 – Congress voted to fully terminate Hopkins's service and have him removed from the Navy.

America's first whistleblowers included Captain of the Marines John Grannis, Third Lieutenant Richard Marven (or Marvin) and Midshipman Samuel Shaw along with seven other Marines and Sailors, according to Stephen Martin Kohn, distinguished attorney and author of the comprehensive "The New Whistleblower's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What's Right and Protecting Yourself" (Lyons Press, 2017). Their bravery came before a U.S. Constitution or First Amendment was created to protect them.

"These sailors [and Marines] were devoted to fighting and winning the War for Independence. They were revolutionaries, risking their lives to build a free and independent America; they wanted nothing more than to fight and defeat their British foes. However, they feared that their commander could not successfully lead any such effort, for his tactics foreshadowed doom for the new American Navy. They blew the whistle on the mistreatment of prisoners almost 250 years before other whistleblowers exposed mistreatment of prisoners in the modern 'war on terror.'"

The Sailors' commander, Esek Hopkins, was commander-in-chief of the young Continental Navy. He came from a powerful family; his brother was governor of Rhode Island and a signer of the Declaration.

The Marines and Sailors, including the ship's carpenter and chaplain, petitioned Congress and reported allegations in letters that Hopkins "treated prisoners in the most inhuman & barbarous manner." He also failed to attack a British frigate that ran aground, and he disobeyed, disregarded and dismissed the U.S. Congress.

In "The New Whistleblower's Handbook" author Kohn publishes some of the testimony presented to Congress's Marine Committee, which conducted an investigation into the allegations and suspended the highest-ranking naval officer.

"John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, and the most famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, certified the resolution and ordered that it be served on Hopkins," Kohn writes. "Hopkins remained under suspension for over nine months. He never appeared before Congress to refute the allegations."

In a typical response to whistleblower complaints, Hopkins retaliated against his accusers, holding a sham court-martial and even jailing two of the men, who again petitioned Congress for help.

"On July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress came to the defense of Marvin (Marven) and Shaw. The Congress, without any recorded dissent, passed a resolution that encouraged all citizens to blow the whistle on official misconduct. Perhaps for the first time in world history – and unquestionably for the first time in the history of the United States – a government recognized the importance of whistleblowers in exposing official misconduct of high-ranking officials working for the government itself. The act of Congress could have been written today: 

'That it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States, as well as all other inhabitants thereof, to give the earliest information to Congress or any other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by any persons in the service of these states, which may come to their knowledge.'"

The Founders authorized the government to pay the attorney fees for the jailed whistleblowers who Hopkins charged with libel. Congress also prevented obstruction by authorizing the release of all pertinent government records.

The whistleblowers were vindicated, and Congress ordered Hopkins to pay their court costs. Kohn contends that the case connects directly to the adoption of the First Amendment more than a decade later. The Navy whistleblower case influenced other acts in the 19th and 20th centuries and was recognized in a unanimous resolution by the U.S. Senate on July 7, 2016, honoring the Sailors and Marines and recommitting to support and protection of whistleblowers.

A Revolutionary Civil War Issue

The need for protecting whistleblowers seems to re-arise about during times of national division and increased defense spending. During the Civil War, Congress investigated frauds by government contractors such as selling sawdust as gunpowder, overcharging taxpayers, and otherwise "profiting from the terrible costs of war."

"When Congress investigated the frauds, it discovered that insider employees had blown the whistle and were subjected to retaliation. In one case the employee architect of the Benton barracks in Missouri reported that he was 'cursed and abused,' 'terrified,' and threatened with imprisonment for blowing the whistle on bribes paid to obtain construction contracts for the barracks."

This led to President Lincoln signing the False Claims Act, March 2, 1863, as protection for taxpayers and the treasury. The FCA became important two generations later in the lead-up to World War II to identify companies using deceptive contracting means to sell defective equipment, including "substandard' steel to the Navy."

Government contractors with powerful lobbying nearly defeated the FCA, and another generation went by before it became revitalized under the False Claims Reform Act and amendments. This was during the time of the $435 hammer, $640 toilet seat and $7,622 coffee pot.

"At the height of the 'Reagan Revolution,' and its gargantuan increases in defense spending, a freshman senator from Iowa, Senator Chuck Grassley, led the charge to increase oversight and accountability for federal spending by resurrecting the False Claims Act ... On October 27, 1986, the False Claims Reform Act was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (Republican, Iowa) and Maj. Gen. Laura Richardson participate in a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Joint Services reception held at the Russell Senate Office Building, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class David Marin)

The reinvigorated act restored the rights of whistleblowers to report fraud, waste and abuse, and demonstrated the federal government's protection of whistleblowers.

The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 led to an investigation that showed employees within Morton-Thiokol, a private contractor, had tried to blow the whistle over safety concerns. Nuclear power safety concerns, Enron's devastating scandal, Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, a company knowingly selling salmonella-contaminated peanut butter – all these cases involved whistleblowers, and each is discussed in the handbook.

But this book is not just about history.

"The New Whistleblower's Handbook" is also a practical, comprehensive (550 pages) guide for federal workers, private industry employees and the general public. It outlines hundreds of strategies and regulations related to whistleblowing in and out of government, acknowledging, "There is no single comprehensive national whistleblower protection law."

What are the pitfalls of using a company hotline? What if a complaint is with one's supervisor and manager? What are deadlines and statutes affecting different types of whistleblower rights? What about military service members?

"The Military Whistleblower Protection Act permits members of the armed services to lawfully communicate with Congress, their chain of command, and military inspectors general. The Act also permits members of the armed services to raise allegations of violations of law, discriminatory conduct and 'gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."

Kohn provides information about deadlines, appeal rights, and relief entitlements.

Federal employees can get information about the Office of Special Counsel (https://osc.gov) and Merit Systems Protection Board (www.mspb.gov).

Capt. Mark P. O'Malley, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, gives his remarks during a press conference regarding a case between the United States of America and Irika Shipping S.A., a ship management corporation sentenced to pay $4 million for deliberately discharging oil and waste into the ocean, Sept. 21. A Coast Guard inspection crew discovered that the motor vessel Iorana, a Greek flagged cargo ship managed by Irika Shipping S.A., used a "magic hose" to bypass a oily water separator in order to discharge what was later revealed to be approximately 6,000 gallons of oil contaminated sludge and bilge waste. (Photo by: Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Brazzell)

There's an APPS for That

Kohn explains various laws, regulations and specific acts like FCA, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley, Lacey, Atomic Energy, Airline Safety, OSHA, HIPAA, and environmental protection initiatives, including the Act to Prevent Pollution from ships. The latter incentivizes reporting with rewards and is having a positive affect on cleaning the oceans and protecting wildlife.

"Currently, most, if not all Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) ocean pollution cases are brought to the government's attention by whistleblowers, and these sources are now the key to the successful prosecution of ocean polluters. APPS includes a whistleblower reward provision that, over time, has proved vital to enforcing laws preventing pollution on the high seas.How can the United States obtain jurisdiction over pollution that is dumped into the high seas, outside U.S. territorial waters? Jurisdiction is based on how the United States implements the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships, as modified by the protocol of 1978, better known simply as the MARPOL Protocol, the leading international treaty protecting the oceans from pollution."

Kohn notes that in the past ten years the U.S. government, in cooperation with whistleblowers, collected about $279 million in fines and penalties from polluters who violated the APPS. Reports are made through the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center, 800-424-8802; www.nrc.uscg.mil.

Tim Todaro, deputy inspector general, Regional Health Command-Pacific, leads his team through a practical exercise Jan. 12 during a Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General whistleblower reprisal investigations course, Jan. 12, 2017, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wa. (Photo by Flavia Hulsey)

Risks and Rewards

Whistleblowers in and out of government in various industries and activities have saved taxpayers billions of dollars. In one IRS case, whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld helped U.S. taxpayers recover more than 13.7 billion from wealthy tax evaders. He was awarded $104 million as part of a successful whistleblower claim.

But the serious act of whistleblowing carries risks. Employers and people in power are apt to "circle the wagons and shoot the messenger."

"One of the biggest mistakes shared by most whistleblowers at the onset of a case is the belief that somehow doing the 'right thing' will be rewarded and that the system will naturally work. Although a nice thought, that is the exception, not the rule. Regardless of the reputation of one's boss, it is simply not possible to predict how a company will respond to a report of wrongdoing by one of its own employees."

For whistleblowers who find the courage to stand up and report crimes, "there is no choice but to prepare a defense for his or her career and reputation," Kohn advises.

He presents hundreds of resources and points of contact for further research. The national framework of federal and state laws, including ongoing refinement of anti-retaliation laws, "is extremely complex and consists of numerous federal and state laws, but it is also plagued by loopholes and technicalities that cause unnecessary hardship to many employees."

Thomas Jefferson Memorial (Photo by TSgt. Eric Miller)

Kohn concludes with this reason for patriotic Americans to stand up for the First Amendment  and against corruption and – like the early Sailors and Marines and the nation's founders – denounce malfeasance:

"Corruption is a cancer on all democratic institutions. It converts the 'rule of law' to the 'rule of backdoor influence.' Greed trumps justice."

Asian Perspective

Review by Bill Doughty

East or West? Free for all or a free-for-all? Who's up and what's down in evolving global relationships?

"Those who are looking for either rigid lines of alliance or moral clarity among Asia's shifting partnerships will find themselves in an Escher painting."

What's needed is a new perspective.

In "The Future Is Asian" (Simon & Schuster, 2019) author Parac Khanna notes that civilization was born in West Asia. "Asia dominated the Old World, while the West led the New World – and now we are coming to a truly global world. There is no turning back from today's multipolar, multicivilizational order."

While China plays a central role in the future global order, those "shifting partnerships" and tenuous loyalties are especially evident in the maritime commons, where "each littoral state has a different name for its portion of the South China Sea."

Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Blake Rodenas uses the “big eyes” on the starboard bridge wing of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) while in the South China Sea, Dec. 23, 2019. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Damon Grosvenor)

As Capitalism becomes a common link even in China and Russia, the waterways throughout Asia, including in and around the Arab states, become even more strategically important. This week China, Russia and Iran are conducting an anti-piracy/anti-terrorism maritime exercise in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman. 

"The more South and East Asians engage with the Gulf region, the more they will want to protect their investments. China, India, Japan, and numerous other Asian powers have all stepped up their freedom of navigation, counterpiracy, and other naval drills in the western Indian Ocean. India, seeking to recover the Chola Dynasty's maritime might, has increased its naval acquisition to more than a quarter of its defense spending with the aim of becoming the gatekeeper of the eponymous Indian Ocean. In the name of maintaining a 'free and open Indo-Pacific,' India and Japan cooperate in the annual Malabar Exercise with the United States, which has renamed its Pacific forces to Indo-Pacific Command. China is also seeking to recover its Ming Dynasty glory, sending flotillas to the Indian Ocean led by modern-day Zheng Hes. China alone has four times as many destroyers, frigates, and other surface warships as India (though still fewer than the United States and Japan). In the coming years, it may anchor more of them in Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port – which the government leased to China in 2017 for ninety-nine years after being unable to repay the loans for the port's construction – or even the Maldives, which was agreed to become a maritime hub of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China's more active presence in India's maritime theater has the country on high alert."

Quartermaster 2nd Class Ziolan Bondoc, from Riverside, California, assists with navigation in the bridge of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) in the Philippine Sea, June 13, 2018, during exercise Malabar between U.S., Japan and Indian maritime forces. (MC2 William McCann)

Khanna presents in detail the nuances of Asian relationships. For example: Turkey's Erdogan who has "lurched toward Asia;" Israel "ever more a part of the Asian system;" Pakistan's rumored Chinese naval base on the Jiwani peninsula "to challenge the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet;" Myanmar as a strategic investment for China, India and Japan; and Vietnam's "pugnacious" approach toward China – "Vietnam is not afraid to send its navy to collide with Chinese vessels and oil rigs trespassing in its water."

Vietnam People’s Navy Lt. Cmdr. Le Thanh Binh, July 16, at RIMPAC 2018. (MC2 Kory Alsberry)

He notes that in 2018 the United States invited Vietnam to participate in the Rim of the Pacific exercise in Hawaii, while excluding China.

Meanwhile, "China's enormous investments in antiship ballistic missiles, stealth submarines, robotic warships, electromagnetic railguns, swarming drones, and militarized reclaimed islands and shoals in the South China Sea (are) all intended to push U.S. forces east of the international date line."

"At the same time, China knows it is not omnipotent. Though it has enormous leverage over most of its neighbors, even military triumph in outstanding disputes may generate such adverse political and economic backlash that it is not worth the price. China cannot assure itself that seizing the multitude of disputed islands and mountains on its periphery would not lead to a blockage of its BRI projects or large-scale diversion of foreign financial and industrial activity. China has learned from Japan's hyperaggression and the United States' overstretch to show restraint and caution, not pursue invasion and occupation."

Khanna shows how Russia and China are getting closer. "Asian states are forging new geometries of cooperation," Khanna writes, including "budding military cooperation among Japan, Vietnam and India; between Australia and Japan; between India and Indonesia; among China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka; and among China, Thailand and Cambodia." Asian nations, including especially China, are investing in and trading with African countries.



"The Future is Asian" presents a scholarly history, a present state of affairs, and predictions for what may unfold in countries throughout the region, including Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

"North Korea will be the true test of whether Northeast Asia can move from strategic suspicion to tactical adjustments. North Korea has been thought of as an isolated failed state, but the fact that its covert nuclear program has had links as far as Pakistan's A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network, its chemical weapons program to Syria's Bashar al-Assad, its ballistic missile program to Iran, and its cyber-surveillance tools to Russia, are all evidence of the seedier side of the Asian system. Asian states can conspire to form an 'axis of resistance' to perceived U.S. hegemony."

Khanna notes that claims by the United States of domination and exceptionalism ("America First") ring hollow and sanctimonious to Asian ears. Harmony and humility are valued over power and pride.

Asians in general, Khanna argues, prefer "cooperation over anger" and "action over argument" – including when dealing with common issues like water shortages, agricultural challenges, inequality and poverty, immigration, pollution and climate change. "China, Japan and India are all major exporters of solar, wind, nuclear and other energy technologies that reduce our global carbon footprint."

Robot Astro Boy

Keys for future success are in education and technology, Khanna asserts. Asians' views of AI and robots are closer to Astroboy (called "Atom" in Japan) rather than Terminator, he asserts.

Along with education and technology, technocracy is embraced. Freedom and democracy do not work without an educated citizenry led by experienced and thoughtful representatives and leaders. Khanna holds up Singapore and itsstatesman Lee Kuan Yew as models of excellence.

Still, he warns of technocracy leading to authoritarian governments that can practice corruption and trample civil rights. "Always beware the oligarch in disguise ... The essence of technocracy is improving governance, not preserving one's own rule."

"After observing Russia's manipulation of Facebook in the 2016 U.S. election – and viral videos sparking riots in India and Myanmar – Asians have recruited Facebook and WhatsApp to actively screen and counter viral hoaxes to ensure that 'fake news' does not destabilize communal harmony. As the economist Danny Quah puts it, free-for-all populist cultures resemble the comments section of online newspapers: they get hijacked by ranting trolls. A better model might be liberal societies in which officials act more like Wikipedia editors who ensure veracity and a sense of order."

Thefts of intellectual properties, tariffs, greed, revanchism and destruction of the environment are challenges for a peaceful future.

Khanna contends that Americanization is giving way to Asianization, even in Europe, and that "Asia is the most powerful force reshaping the world order today." He writes, "To appreciate just how rapidly global order can realign, consider the arc of the post-WWII era."

Whether or not readers agree with all of the author's conclusions and recommendations, especially his views on democracy, he compels us to consider other perspectives and how we approach the future – with less self-centeredness and arrogance and instead with greater humility, honesty and reflection.

Parag Khanna has served as an advisor to the U.S. National Intelligence Council and U.S. Special Operations Forces.