Pentagon: Dover media ban likely to end within weeks

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Pentagon: Dover media ban likely to end within weeks
By Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 18, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Secretary Robert Gates traveled to Dover Air Force Base, Del., late Tuesday night to "personally honor the sacrifice" of four fallen troops killed by an IED attack near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Sunday. It was the secretary’s first visit to Dover, where most servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are brought home.

"This is something he’s been meaning to do for months now," said Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary. "It was a very moving experience for him."

"This was merely a personal visit of the secretary’s. Something that … is completely detached from his decision about media access to Dover."

In February, Gates announced the Pentagon was lifting the 1991 ban on media coverage of the remains of fallen servicemembers at Dover. The new policy will allow reporters, photographers and television crews to record the events, but only with the permission of family members. That caveat has raised many questions about how the military will manage media and family who want coverage.

An internal Pentagon "implementation committee" has met with Gates to present their initial recommendations but is still formulating the policy, Morrell said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61403