Nauta sounds nautical. In fact, the surname derives from the Latin for sailor. So it’s no surprise that the U.S. Navy boasts several Nautas.
Also a common Dutch name, Nauta is familiar on the Western Pacific island of Guam. And that U.S. territory’s most prominent son today is Waltine.
As in Waltine “Walt” Torre Nauta Jr. — charged with Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Since his June 9 indictment, Nauta has been profiled by The Washington Post, New York Times, Vanity Fair and other major outlets. Most focus on his years as the former president’s loyal “body man,” valet or Diet-Coke-fetcher.
But his 20-year Navy career — including a month in San Diego — has gotten far less attention, even though his “releasable” Navy biography was posted on social media within hours of his indictment on six counts of concealing or withholding documents and taking part in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Nauta, who pleaded not guilty, faces 20 years in prison for allegedly moving dozens of boxes containing classified documents at Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Fla., and lying to federal investigators about it.
So what light does his Navy tenure shed on Nauta’s current turmoil?
Times of San Diego sought details from Navy public affairs officials and a local Navy expert to understand his career path. They raised many questions.
I emailed Nauta’s Florida lawyers July 8, asking that they convey my queries. He never responded.
According to his official bio, an 18-year-old Nauta started basic training — boot camp — at Great Lakes, Illinois, 48 days before the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He’d stay at that Recruit Training Command for two months.
He attended Naval Technical Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, between Sept. 29 and Dec. 18, 2001, a place known for force protection training — military security, policing and even K9 handling.
But Leslie Hubbell, a spokeswoman for the Pensacola, Florida-based Naval Education and Training Command, says Nauta trained as a chef — known as culinary specialist — at Lackland.
Between January 2002 and February 2005, a standard three-year assignment, Nauta was with Strike Fighter Squadron 192, known as the “World Famous Golden Dragons,” stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore in Kings County.
Then came a brief duty station in San Diego.
In 2005 — from Feb. 13 to March 18 — he was a student at the Center for Surface Combat Systems Detachment West — renamed in 2021 as Surface Combat Systems Training Command San Diego at Naval Base Point Loma.
Why only 33 days — a period called “odd” by a local Navy expert?
“It’s just weird,” he said. “Like, what is that? And it’s the fact that he came from three years at Lemoore and all of a sudden.”
The expert, who spoke on background and not to be named, noted how Nauta next went to the now-mothballed “super carrier” USS John F. Kennedy as a part of the Naval Reserve.
“That makes me wonder,” the expert said. “Did he process out of the Navy … and then go reserve? But then he went right on a deployment” from March 29, 2005, to Jan. 24, 2006.
His monthlong San Diego stay and the Naval Reserve stint have yet to be addressed by the Navy.
But Hubbell, the Florida public affairs officer, offered some history of the San Diego training base.
“Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) was officially established in September 2004,” she said. “Schoolhouses — such as the Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Center (FASW), Mine Warfare Training Center (MWTC) and Aegis Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) — were realigned under CSCS.”
Hubbell says CSCS Detachment West had about 130 staff members — a mix of military, government, civilians and contractors.
Trained there were boatswain’s mates, electronics technicians, fire controlmen, gunner’s mates, interior communications specialists and quartermasters.
It’s not clear what Nauta studied.
In 2005, the CSCS mission was “to provide preparation, study and practice that enable our Sailors to engage the enemy and win!”
Further: “CSCS trains Sailors and Surface Warriors to achieve operational excellence. Prepare and qualify our people to correctly maintain, operate and if necessary, fight our surface ships while conducting sustained combat operations at sea. Synchronize the capability of our warfare systems with a training investment in people so they can successfully execute across the ‘Kill Chain’ against the threats of today that face our Sailors in ships.”
Other “schoolhouses” were in Dam Neck, Va.; Great Lakes, Ill.; San Diego; and Norfolk, Va., which were also absorbed. CSCS is headquartered in Dahlgren, Va., and had a total of 14 learning sites and detachments, including CSCS Detachment West.
In November 2008, when he was assigned to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, Nauta was in Afghanistan. And late that month Petty Officer 2nd Class Nauta met with U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton and Madeleine Bordallo, a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for Guam’s at-large congressional district.
A photo caption of that visit said six members of Congress visited the war zone on Nov. 26.
Media reports say Nauta was raised in the village of Agat, Guam — population 4,515. Nauta was always a “good boy” and “family-oriented,” his aunt Elly Nauta told The Washington Post.
Elly said she believed he enlisted in the military “to see the world. ” He didn’t return to Guam often once he left.
I sought more information from a Nauta cousin in Guam and never heard back.
Nauta served on the USS Taylor, a frigate, from April 2009 to October 2012 and then with the Presidential Food Service at the White House from November 2012 to May 2021. He was at Headquarters of Naval District Washington from May 2021 to September 2021.
When he left the Navy as an E-8, a senior chief petty officer, Nauta, now 40, was making at least $73,000 a year.
On his bio, his awards are listed in order of precedence.
With pins as an aviation and surface warfare specialist, Nauta could “basically serve anywhere except for submarines,” the local expert said.
He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal five times, a Good Conduct Medal seven times and various others honors, including the Rifle Marksmanship Ribbon.
Some 3 1/2 months after achieving his highest rank, he retired on Sept. 30, 2021.
His fate is up to a Florida jury, overseen by federal Judge Aileen Cannon, with a trial in the classified documents case currently set for May 20, 2024.
Much is left to learn about Nauta’s involvement with Trump — and his Navy career. If you have anything to offer on enlisted man Walt Nauta, shoot me a note: kens@timesofsandiego.com.
