It seems that almost daily some brouhaha is raised over one of President Trump’s utterings.

Because many of his statements have generated valid concern, a hyper-charged environment exists where sometimes false controversy is generated when he says something that is perfectly reasonable. The recent media frenzy over President Trump’s declaration to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is one such example.

The grand total of President Trump’s statement, as reported by the New York Times and validated by the White House, is: “We have a lot of firepower over there. . . We have two submarines—the best in the world. We have two nuclear submarines, not that we want to use them at all.”

Based on this statement, the Navy Times filed a report titled, “Some Silent Service Vets Cringe at Trump’s Sub Disclosure,” in which several submarine veterans expressed concern about the fact the President “disclosed” that there were submarines operating somewhere in the Pacific able to take action if necessary on the Korean peninsula. MSNBC declared this was a release of “classified information.” Newsweek claimed that President Trump’s statement indicated the submarines were “near” North Korea.

Please.

American taxpayers have invested a great deal in our submarine force. Controversy should rightly only exist if, because of force structure shortfalls, there was not a submarine somewhere near a crisis or hotspot.

When our submarines deploy to the western Pacific, it’s publicly reported. Family celebrations are held on the pier. Media is present. Bands are playing. Would MSNBC have them all locked up for releasing classified information? What do these people think those submarines are doing when they deploy?

And here’s a newsflash for Newsweek: Tomahawk missiles have a range of about 1,000 miles. How does that put the submarines “near” North Korea?

As a former submarine captain and commodore, it would not worry me one iota if the U.S. publicly stated that our submarines were in a position to affect a crisis. That’s the great thing about submarines: absence of visible presence cannot be construed as inability to act. The adversary must presume that we always have a submarine in place and ready to strike.

In the Navy Times article, Vice Admiral Al Konetzni was quoted as saying, “I didn’t see any foul there, and those people making it a foul are a bit ridiculous.” Admiral Konetzni has it right.

There are plenty of issues to generate concern over President Trump’s statements. This isn’t one of them. The tit-for-tat, “since the president expresses himself in hyperbolic terms we in the press need to as well” form of coverage does nobody any good.