AMANPOUR: And finally tonight, we imagine a world where a miscommunication could become a dangerous miscalculation. When an unnamed official in the public affairs office of the U.S. Navy's third fleet announced last week that the "USS Carl Vinson" was headed towards the Western Pacific, the Trump administration hopped on board. President himself said that we're sending an armada. That would be to deter North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Images made front pages around the world. Japanese and South Korean allies pronounced themselves reassured, while Pyongyang responding with terrifying talk of thermonuclear war. Tensions were high. And then on Monday, the U.S. Navy posted this photo, showing the ship was actually in Indonesia's Sunda Strait, not heading north towards the Sea of Japan where the world thought it was going, but steaming south towards the Indian Ocean for joint exercises with Australia. So who's in charge of deployments and messaging? The Trump administration's credibility on this vital issue has taken a battering, prompting jibes from China's press. Beijing of course is expected to be helping the U.S. resolve the North Korea issue. And far more seriously perhaps, a South Korean presidential candidate saying that his country may not be able to trust what the Trump administration says anymore. Now Vice President Mike Pence tells CNN, the "Carl Vinson" will be in the region in the coming weeks. So this sorry saga can begin all over again. If only the stakes weren't so very high. That's it for our program tonight. Thanks for watching and good night from London.
The Hunt for the USS Carl Vinson