FBI Director Kash Patel last year snorkeled around the sunken USS Arizona while on a trip to meet with local law enforcement, according to a new report.
Patel was in Hawaii to meet with field office personnel and leaders from the local and federal law enforcement community. The Associated Press reported that he also took time out to for what was described in emails as a "VIP snorkel" around the vessel.
The revelation is the latest involving Patel and travel while on official businesses. He has faced scrutiny over a trip to Italy during which he partied in the locker room with the U.S. Hockey team following their gold medal win.
"It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions — this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest attack in U.S. history — instead of staying laser-focused on keeping Americans safe," Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection, a network of former federal prosecutors and agents who advocate for the Department of Justice's independence, told the outlet.
The Arizona was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. It is a memorial to the 1,177 sailors and Marines who died, many of whom were entombed in the ship, which exploded and sank. According to the Navy, "in the years that followed, the Navy removed much of the ship's wrecked superstructure, but the idea that the nation should honor the entombed crew where they rest took hold and never let go."
The AP noted that snorkeling, diving, and swimming around the memorial are generally not allowed. The sunken battleship, which is now a military cemetery, is only reachable by boat. However, the wire service also reported that the Navy and the park service have in recent years allowed some dignitaries to swim at the site but have not said how often such excursions happen.
The publicly accessible memorial is built above the sunken vessel. It's designer, Alfred Preis, said it was meant to carry profound symbolism. The structure, he said, "sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expressing initial defeat and ultimate victory.... The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses... his innermost feelings."
The AP reported that Navy spokesperson Capt. Jodie Cornell said Patel and others in his group were told "not to touch/come into contact with" the sunken ship while snorkeling. Cornell also told the AP that the group was briefed about "the historic significance of the Memorial as the final resting place/tomb for hundreds of service members."
Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran, told the AP that politicians and officials should not be swimming at the site. Albertson is part of the Paralyzed Veterans of America and is trained to dive at the Arizona to check on the wreck's condition.
"It's like having a bachelor party at a church. It's hallowed ground," he said. "It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves."
