Presenter: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen February 26, 2009

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