A former top Navy attorney has publicly said for the first time that President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara ordered a U.S. military investigation to conclude that the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was an accident. On June 8, 1967 Israeli warplanes bombed the U.S. ship off the coast of Egypt killing 34 Americans and wounding 170 more.

The attorney, retired Captain Ward Boston, said the White House ordered investigators to “conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

Boston was the senior legal counsel to the Navy’s 1967 review of the attack. He said he was prompted to come forward following the publication of the recent book “The Liberty Incident” which concluded the attack was an accident.