Navy's change of course saluted

WASHINGTON — It took pressure from Congress, the White House and the Japanese to get the Navy to open up its investigation of the USS Greeneville accident.

A top Navy spokesman has acknowledged problems with the initial handling of the incident, especially in the way critical information was kept secret not only from the public, but also from fellow investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Military analysts say the change is a good idea.

For the first few days after the Greeneville rammed and sank the Japanese fishing trawler Ehime Maru about nine miles south of O‘ahu on Feb. 9, the Navy and the White House were tight-lipped about the incident, repeatedly referring to the military investigation under way. Officials declined to confirm media reports that civilians were on board the fast-attack submarine or, later, reports that civilians were at the controls when the collision occurred.

Japanese officials and media and U.S. military analysts criticized President Bush for his delegation of responsibility, dispatching Secretary of State Colin Powell to apologize for the disaster on behalf of the administration. Bush first commented on the matter Feb. 12, in an address to Army troops in Georgia. Finally, on Feb. 13 he called Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to express his regret and promise to do everything possible to recover the bodies of the nine missing victims.

On Feb. 14, the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has power over military programs and funding, summoned Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to answer questions about the incident in a secret meeting. During the meeting, Fargo for the first time said the Greeneville’s crew should have seen the Ehime Maru before the accident.

The next day, Bush ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review the policy of taking civilians along on military exercises. And Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, the Navy’s top spokesman, acknowledged that the Navy had mishandled the incident.

Secrecy not unhealthy

In a media briefing at the Pentagon, Pietropaoli said he did not know until early last week that civilians had been in key control positions at the time of the accident.

"Clearly, in hindsight, we could have done a much better job of making that information known," not only to the media but to the National Transportation Safety Board, he said. Pietropaoli said the Navy should also have notified the Japanese government earlier. The issue has heightened anger among the Japanese, according to local media.

Pietropaoli also said the Pentagon had provided names of civilians on board the Greeneville to the NTSB "a little later than we should have."

The military’s instinct for secrecy during an investigation is not unhealthy, he said.

"At some point, this becomes dysfunctional on some pieces of information," Pietropaoli allowed. "We may have reached that point, with respect to the civilians at the controls, and gone past that point. But by and large, that instinct to find all the facts, analyze them, figure out what they mean, and put transparency at the end of the process, not as a daily dosage, is a well-tested and, we think, reasonable approach."

On Tuesday, he said the Navy was taking extra care to be sensitive to Japanese concerns and will try to accommodate not only families of the victims but also Japanese officials and media at the court of inquiry, scheduled to begin next week in Honolulu.

And as video of the sunken ship becomes available from the robotic vehicles examining the wreck on the ocean floor, the families of victims and Japanese government officials have been first to view them.

"There’s nothing you can do that can assuage the loss of a loved one," Pietropaoli said. "What we can do is promise that the process will be thorough and comprehensive and we will take accountability measures as appropriate when we have the facts."

‘Full disclosure’ needed

John Isaacs, president of Council for a Livable World, an arms control lobbying group, said the Navy’s change of approach was welcomed.

"The general rule of thumb for companies is full disclosure and immediate apology," Isaacs said. "In this case, there’s been an apology but not full disclosure. The fact that it took several days to find out there were civilians involved, and then their names being shielded, makes it look as though they’re trying to hide something. Immediately, (the Navy) should’ve put out as much information as they had and kept that policy going."

Retired Army Col. William Taylor, an international consultant who has specialized in northeast Asia, agreed the Navy had mishandled the incident from the beginning but also saw the military’s point of view in keeping details of its investigation secret.

"There’s a natural, built-in human tendency to keep a close hold on information, to protect everyone’s rights, until you’ve got all the facts, and properly so," Taylor said. "But there’s a point where there is a public expectation and presumption of a public right to know, and it looks like they missed the boat there."

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