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DoD News Briefing with Secretary Gates and Adm. Mullen [excerpts on media coverage of fallen soldiers]
SEC. GATES: I'd like to address two subjects today.
First, I would like to make an announcement regarding the department's
policy toward media coverage of the return of our fallen heroes at
Dover Air Force Base. As you know, the president asked me to
review this policy. After receiving input from a number of
sources, including all of the military services and organizations
representing military families, I have decided that the decision
regarding media coverage of the dignified transfer process at Dover
should be made by those most directly affected: on an individual
basis by the families of the fallen. We ought not presume to make
that decision in their place.
I've tasked a working group to quickly come up with a plan to implement
this new policy. Further, I've tasked the working group to examine
ways in which we might further assist the families of those who have
made the supreme sacrifice for our country.
[...]
Q Mr. Secretary, back to your opening
statement. What was your personal thinking behind the decision to
lift the outright ban on media coverage of the Dover (inaudible)?
SEC. GATES: Well, I would have to -- I would have to tell you that
where I've come out is where I went in in terms of my personal feelings
about it. I just -- I think that the thing we always have to keep
at the forefront of our minds -- and I invite Admiral Mullen to comment
on this because it involves our men and women in uniform and their
families -- but I think that foremost in our thinking about issues like
this should be the families and giving them choices, not just on this
but on a lot of other things.
ADM. MULLEN: That's -- for me, Jim, that really has been the
driver as well. We've seen so many families go through so much,
and in that, they have been extraordinarily strong. And meeting
their needs, their requests in the most dignified, respectful, focused
way we can was very much a driver for me in supporting this
change.
Q And do you agree or disagree with critics who
say that the ban was originally intended as a political statement to
avoid the kind of reaction that the public might have -- erode public
support for any kind of armed conflict once the images of the returning
war dead are seen publicly?
SEC. GATES: As you all have pointed out, this policy was first put
in place, I think, in 1991 or at least during the first Bush
administration. As far as I'm concerned, that's ancient history,
and I'm not going to try and figure out the motive.
Q On Dover, will the families themselves be
allowed to be there when the coffins come home? And will you
provide transportation or chaplains or services if they're there when
they see the coffins?
SEC. GATES: All those are the issues that the working group has to
work through. And we'll see how it works --
Q Mr. Secretary, can I ask you about this, more
clarity in the timing of when the president asked you to review the
Dover policy? And how much time do you envision before this working
groups comes up with its recommendations or guidelines for the families
to choose?
And Admiral, if I could ask you, sir, what was your thinking on this
policy? Has it evolved over time?
SEC. GATES: I had asked about changing the policy in Dover over a
year ago. And although I -- when I got the response that I did,
which recommended no change, I accepted that at the time. I must
say, I was never comfortable with it.
When I heard the president express his concern and desire to have it
reviewed, I started the process the next morning. The working
group -- I used the words quickly in my opening remarks. I am a
firm believer in getting things done promptly. Short deadlines are
critical. I have a deadline in my head. And I expect them to
meet it.
ADM. MULLEN: I mean, my views have evolved in the sense that I
have been to Dover several times. I've seen the ceremony
there. And it is an extraordinarily well-run, dignified,
respectful ceremony.
And those men and women who do this at Dover know that, execute it and
are very proud of what they do. And I am comfortable. Any
American who saw that would be very proud of how that is executed
there.
In terms of evolution on whether we should have done -- you know, done
this or not -- had a policy, as it was for many years. It really
-- this review, you know, gave me an opportunity to certainly make my
views known. And I believe -- I believe in the outcome that the
secretary has described very strongly. And again, because it is
family-centric here, more than anything else, I'm very, very
supportive.
Q But Mr. Secretary, why do you personally
think the policy should be changed?
SEC. GATES: Well, I think I -- I think I answered that. I
think these kinds of decisions should be up to the families.
Q Mr. Secretary, you were the secretary of
Defense in the old administration. Who told you you couldn’t
change the policy?
SEC. GATES: Nobody. And --
Q The answer came back from -- (off mike)?
SEC. GATES: No, the answer came back from within this building.
I'm sorry. I asked for a review of it a little over a year ago,
and got a different answer than I got a few days ago. And I was
much happier with the answer I got this year.
Q Mr. Secretary, we were told the other day
that you were going -- you left some folks in the building on this
issue, but you were going to talk with some family members or family
groups subsequently. Have you had those meetings in the last
couple of days?
SEC. GATES: I have not done it personally, but -- but the folks
that handle family matters in Personnel and Readiness reached out to
them and talked to them. And I got a report back on those
conversations.
Q Is that report something that ultimately
changed your mind to lift the outright ban?
SEC. GATES: I would say that the reaction we got from the
organizations associated with the families strongly reinforced the
decision of where I was heading.
Q Secretary Gates, I'm still a little bit
confused about your -- your call one year ago. You're looking into
the Dover decision one year ago. Who opposed it here in the
building? And couldn't you have made it happen anyway? And
did you get any feedback or was there any communication at the -- with
the White House?
SEC. GATES: There was no communication with the White House at the
time. It was a product of my own -- my own concern.
I think that there was a feeling that -- what I got back was -- from
personnel and readiness was basically an expression of the
complications potentially for the families and a concern for the
privacy of the families. And -- and I demurred, on receiving that
advice.
I reached out more broadly this time. I talked directly with the
senior leadership of the services and solicited their views. And I
would say -- I'll be perfectly honest about it. There was a
division in the building. And I thought that the -- and I sided
with those who thought that the issue ought to be up to the
families.
Q And so what changed? Is there not still
a division?
SEC. GATES: No, I'd say there still is a division, but not
anymore.
Q And Admiral Mullen, are you one of the ones
who was opposed, or --
ADM. MULLEN: I'm very supportive of the change.
Q But did you change your position at all?
ADM. MULLEN: Before -- a year ago, I wasn't involved in -- I
wasn't personally involved in the review. That doesn't mean my
staff had not been. I just -- I honestly don't know that.
I mean, I really think it's the right decision. It focuses on the
right piece of this, which are -- the right people, who are the
families. And I think, in that regard, it'll serve us all very
well.
SEC. GATES: And let me be clear, you know, when I talk about a
division or a disagreement within the building, everybody was trying to
do what was best -- what they thought was best for the families. And
I'm not questioning the motives of those who opposed a change in policy
at all. They were doing what they thought best served the families
of our fallen. My view -- my conclusion was we should not presume
to make the decision for the families. We should actually let them
make it.
So that -- I mean, I don't want to impugn anybody's motives here.
People were all trying to do what was right by the families. It
just seemed to me that we ought to let the families make that
decision.
Q Nonetheless, you became more assertive this
time, than -- about what you wanted?
ADM. MULLEN: He's pretty assertive normally.
SEC. GATES: (Laughs.) Well, I -- you know, I was very open to
what I was going to get in the review. But -- for example, I got a
very compelling Army -- memorandum from the Army in favor of this
change of policy. And since that involves the largest number of
our fallen, that obviously had an impact on me.
Q (Off mike) -- and they before opposed
it?
SEC. GATES: I honestly don't know whether they were consulted a
year ago.
Q And do you also agree that the nation has the
right to grieve and honor for our war dead, such as they do in Great
Britain and Canada?
SEC. GATES: I believe that the American people would defer to the
wishes of the families of the fallen. I honestly believe that they
think that the parents, the husbands, the wives, the next of kin, that
the families ought to make that decision. That's where I think --
that's where I would wager a lot of money the overwhelming
preponderance of the American people are.
Lita?
Q Yeah, on the Dover policy again, I just
wanted to follow up on that last point. You know, has there -- as
you've been having these discussions and -- have you been focusing on,
like, how the new policy will be created in terms of -- is there going
to be a restriction that families can them impose to say, you know, "We
don't want cameras here"? And when will that take
effect? When are you starting --
SEC. GATES: As soon as the working group gets back to me. But
the thrust of this is that if the family of one of the fallen says that
they do not want media coverage of the return, of the dignified
transfer process, then that will be the decision. There will be no
media coverage. If they say that's okay with them, then it will be
available.
Q And if the families themselves are divided
--
SEC. GATES: That's the kind of thing that the working group is
looking into.
Source: Department of Defense
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