A
senior administration official blamed a miscommunication between the
Pentagon and the White House over reports that the aircraft carrier has
not made its way to the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, as an
expected show of force to North Korea.
The
official blamed the mixup on a lack of follow-up with commanders
overseeing the movements of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.
On
April 8, US Pacific Command, which oversees military operations in the
region, issued a statement saying that the Carl Vinson and an
accompanying strike group would leave Singapore and head to the Western
Pacific, with a US military official telling CNN that it was a "show of
force" in response to North Korea's provocations.
Following
the announcement, President Donald Trump and some of his top aides
highlighted the deployment as part of the administration's response to
Pyongyang's recent missile tests.
"We
are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines, very
powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell
you," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
And the announcement that the Vinson had
been dispatched to the region increased tensions with Pyongyang, with
its official Korean Central News Agency calling the carrier's deployment
"nothing but a reckless action of aggression to aggravate the tensions
in the region."
But soon after the
Pacific Command statement, US military officials clarified to CNN that
the strike group would first complete a previously scheduled military
exercise with the Australian navy.
The
aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson leads the guided-missile destroyer USS
Michael Murphy and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain in the
Indian Ocean on April 14.
Further
confusion was added when Secretary of Defense James Mattis told
reporters last week that the exercises had been canceled. Multiple US
defense officials told CNN that Mattis had inadvertently misspoke and
that it was a port visit in Australia that was canceled to allow for the
group's redeployment to the waters near the Korean Peninsula.
The
strike group, including the 97,000-ton carrier and its 60-plus
aircraft, the guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS
Michael Murphy and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, will
arrive off the Korean Peninsula by the end of April, multiple US defense
officials told CNN.
Source: CNN.COM