followed them into Iranian territorial waters. Barry and Charles also accused the U.S. government of a cover-up. Other sources lay some of the blame on the complexity of the AEGIS technology and the desire on the part of Captain Rogers to make use of it. An analysis of the events by the International Strategic Studies Association described the deployment of an Aegis cruiser into that zone as irresponsible, and the Association thought that the enormous cost of his warship had played a major part in setting a low threshold for Captain Rogers decision to open fire. In 2004, Marita Turpin and Niek du Plooy of the Centre for Logistics and Decision Support partially attributed the accident to an expectancy bias introduced by the Aegis Combat System and faulted the design and "unhelpful user interface" as contributing to the errors of judgment. Rogers was personally criticized for being overly aggressive by Commander David Carlson, commanding officer of , a second ship that was under the tactical control of Rogers at the time of the incident. Carlson described the downing of the airliner as the "horrifying climax to Capt. Rogers' aggressiveness, first seen four weeks ago". He was referring to incidents on June 2, 1988, when he claimed that Rogers brought Vincennes too close to an Iranian frigate that was searching a bulk carrier, that he launched a helicopter too close to Iranian small boats, and that he fired upon a number of small Iranian military boats instead of directing another, smaller warship to do so. In disagreeing with Rogers' decision – citing the high cost of the cruiser relative to that of the frigates attached to the group – Carlson posited, "Why do you want an AEGIS cruiser out there shooting up boats? It wasn't a smart thing to do." USS Vincennes, with Rogers remaining in command, completed the remainder of her scheduled deployment to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the voyage home on September 22, 1988, Vincennes rescued 26 Vietnamese boat people adrift in the South China Sea. The ship returned to Naval Station San Diego on October 25, 1988. Rogers remained in command of USS Vincennes until May 27, 1989. In 1990, Captain Rogers was awarded the Legion of Merit decoration "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer ... from April 1987 to May 1989." The award was given for his service