While the incident will undoubtedly raise larger questions about ship and port safety protocols, so far there is no indication the pilots on the Dali did anything wrong given the immediate situation they faced.

“But we can be better at collecting … intelligence, sharing information, connecting the dots, because also in the private sector there is a lot of information” about ship movements and maritime surveillance, he added.

A Pentagon official said U.S. diplomats in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, had been in touch with counterparts in the government there about ship visit procedures and requisite clearances.

Last week, a blast struck the cargo ship in the same waterway, raising alarms about ship security in the Mideast.

Prosecutors say nine sailors from the 7th Fleet flagship leaked classified information about ship movements and other secrets to Francis, a Malaysian citizen, making the Blue Ridge perhaps the most widely compromised U.S. military headquarters of the modern era.