Evening star., 1952-10-30
Ruling Eased in Names
Of Military Personnel
involved in Accidents
By John A. Giles

By John A. Giles
Regulations governing the re-
lease Of names of military per-
sonnel involved in accidents in
this country have been eased.
Defense Secretary Lovett today
issued an order directing the re-
lease of names of armed forces
personnel in accidents involving
civilian or military automobiles,
trains, aircraft or in any other
types of accidents Immediately
upon identification"
Heretofore, the services have
pursued the policy of not announc-
ing the names of their personnel
until after notification of next-of-
kin, even though civilians involved
in the same mishaps became
known Immediately. There have
been several instances where this
policy was taken to ridiculous
lengths and caused vigorous pro-
tests.
Case of Train Crash Cited.
For instance, in the case of a
train crash. the names and ad-
dresses of civilians involved could
become known Immediately, while
the publication of the names and
addresses of military personnel
involved had been held up pending
notification of neXt-of-
A major protest against that
practice has been that notifica-
tion of the next-of-kin did not
come soon enough to allay the
fears and concern of all persons
whose kin might have been pas
sengerS on the train.
The average delay in making
information available in accident
cases in the past has been four
hours for the Army and Navy, and
sometimes II hours in the case
of the Air Force. Under the new
policy, excepting only those cases
of accidents involving military
plane crashes in which civilians
are not involved nor damage to
Civilian installations caused, the
release of information will be
made simultaneously with news of
the accident itself.
The order establishing the uni
form information release policy
authorized the services to with
hold names Of killed or injured
until such time as the next of
kin can reasonably" be expected
to have received official notif1ca-
tion in accidents inside military
reservations.
Calls for every Effort"
However, Mr.. Lovett told the
services "every effort" should be
made to release the names stimuli
taneously with release of the &C
cident news itself.
IF the accidents involve mill
tary airplanes which crash in or
upon the borders of cities or!
town, or which cause civilian cas-
ualties or appreciable damage to
property-that is, if there has
been a major invasion of the civil
ian domain-the names and ad-
dresses of military personnel
should be released Immediately
upon Identification" Mr.. Lovett
ordered. If classified equipment
is involved, normal security pre-
cautions should be observed with
respect to the equipment.
IF the accidents involve mill
tary airplanes which crash in To-
calities remote from populated
areas, involve no civilian casual
ties and cause no appreciable
property damage-that is, if there
is no major invasion Of the civil
ian domain-names and addresses
of the military personnel may be
withheld until such time as the
next Of kin can reasonably be ex-
pected to have received official
notification of the accident"
Policy Lauded.
The departments new informa-
ton release rules yesterday were
praised as constructive step"
by j. r. Virgins, managing editor
of the Washington Post and
chairman of the Associated Press
Managing Editors Association
Committee on Freedom of In
formation.