This international debacle has a very simple answer.

CAMP HUMPHREYS, Pyongtaek, S. Korea — Standing before an audience of senior military staff and commanders as well as the world press, a grim-faced Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, Commander, U.S. Forces Korea acknowledged investigators have determined the critical factor in PV2 Travis King’s defection 48 hours ago.

“I am not going to sugarcoat this. Responsibility inherent to command means I can’t. Simply put, King’s troop-level leadership failed to ensure he completed his annual ‘Don't Defect to North Korea’ training.“ Following a collective gasp, the room fell silent.

Annual training is widely seen as an efficient, time-effective means of ensuring members of the Department of Defense receive critical instruction and training on issues vital to defending the nation. Universally applicable matters such as records retention regulations for members of the infantry, wilderness survival training for administrative clerks, and how to cut and paste a squad’s worth of names over that of the new guy forced to actually complete mind-numbing training are just a fraction of the matters vital to America’s warfighters.