CG asked to explain why it withholds names

CG asked to explain why it withholds names
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 6:03:08 EDT

Professional staff from the House subcommittee that oversees the Coast Guard is asking the service to explain its new practice of withholding the names of people it rescues.

Congressional and Coast Guard sources confirmed that two staff members from the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee will meet with service attorneys to discuss the policy, which was announced on Aug. 24.

Under the new policy, the Coast Guard will release the names of people it rescues only while a search-and-rescue operation is “open and active.” The information will not be releasable once the case is closed and entered into the service’s law enforcement information database.

The announcement has generated objections from media outlets and free press advocates, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

“This information presumes to be public, and this policy flips that presumption on its head,” said Loren Cochran, an attorney for the Reporters Committee.

~snip~

“If the names of the people rescued are not available, members of the news media and the public have no way to check on the Coast Guard’s performance in rescues. ... Likewise, when the job is well done, the public deserves to know that, too. People who owe their lives to the Coast Guard may want to tell the important stories of their rescuers’ heroism,” editors wrote in a Sept. 12 opinion piece.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/coastguard_namepolicy_071017w/