It certainly shows a breakdown in communications that is troubling because the president is commander in chief and (Defense) Secretary (James) Mattis apparently, according to press reports — I haven't an official briefing on it yet — told him that this carrier and the destroyers were headed towards North Korea as a show of force when in fact they were headed in the completely opposite direction to Australia, and it's troubling if we don't know where our assets are. It's also so surprising. Every time I have seen that map that shows where our naval assets are, believe me, the Pentagon knows exactly where they are. So I suspect there was some sort of just terrible miscommunication but it should not have occurred.

Susan Collins

Susan Margaret Collins is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, Collins has served in the Senate since 1997, and has served as the ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging in and previously as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security from 2003 to 2007. Born in Caribou, Maine, Collins is a graduate of St. Lawrence University. Beginning her career as a staff assistant for Senator William Cohen in 1975, Collins later became the staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security in 1981. She was then appointed as the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation by Governor John R. McKernan, Jr. in 1987. In 1992 she was appointed by President George H.W. Bush as the director of the Small Business Administration's regional office in Boston. Staying in Massachusetts, Collins became that state's Deputy State Treasurer in 1993. After moving back to Maine in 1994, Collins became the Republican nominee for Governor in the 1994 general election.

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