Fourth public affairs director in a recent years gets fired, thought the families of the dead should control media attention not the Army.
Jack Linthicum
White said Gray had "been disrespectful to me as your supervisor and
failed to act in an inappropriate manner." Failed to act in an in
appropriate manner? The termination notice was inadvertently
revealing: Only at Arlington National Ceremony could it be considered
a firing offense to act appropriately.
Army Secretary Pete Geren, in an interview last night, said he
couldn't comment on Gray's firing. But he said the overall policy at
Arlington is correct. "It appears to me that we've struck the right
balance, consistent with the wishes of the family," the secretary
said.
Putting Her Foot Down and Getting the Boot
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, July 10, 2008; A03
The ghost of Rummy is proving difficult to exorcise.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tried to sweep out the symbols of
his predecessor's capricious reign, firing acolytes of Donald Rumsfeld
and bringing glasnost to the Pentagon.
But in one area, Rummy's Rules still pertain: the attempt to hide from
public view the returning war dead.
When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington
National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery
officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of
funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors'
families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new
restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such
limitations.
Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore
media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the
Army fired her.
"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not
said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I'd still be there,"
said the jobless Gray, who, over lunch yesterday in Crystal City,
recounted what she is certain is her retaliatory dismissal. "It's
about doing the right thing."
Army Secretary Pete Geren, in an interview last night, said he
couldn't comment on Gray's firing. But he said the overall policy at
Arlington is correct. "It appears to me that we've struck the right
balance, consistent with the wishes of the family," the secretary
said.
Gray, in tank top, jeans, Ray-Bans over her Army cap and flip-flops
revealing pink toenails, struck an unlikely figure for a whistle-
blower yesterday as she provided documents detailing her ill-fated and
tumultuous few months at Arlington. She worked for eight years in the
Army as a public affairs specialist in Germany, Italy and Iraq, then
returned to Iraq as an army contractor doing media operations. While
working with the 173rd Airborne in Iraq in 2003, her convoy was
ambushed and, she says, she still has some hearing loss from the
explosion. The 30-year-old Arizonan was hired to work at Arlington in
April.
Just 10 days on the job, she was handling media coverage for the
burial of a Marine colonel who had been killed in Iraq when she
noticed that Thurman Higginbotham, the cemetery's deputy
superintendent, had moved the media area 50 yards away from the
service, obstructing the photographs and making the service inaudible.
The Washington Sketch column on April 24 noted that Gray pushed for
more access to the service but was "apparently shot down by other
cemetery officials."
Gates had his staff inquire with the cemetery about the article and
was told that "the policy had not in any way changed," Gates's
spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said yesterday. Geren, the Army secretary,
added that "the policy has not changed, and I understand the practice
hasn't, either."
That, however, is false. Through at least 2005 -- during Rumsfeld's
tenure, no less -- reporters were placed in a location where they
could hear the prayers and the eulogies and film the handing of the
folded flag to the next of kin. The coverage of the ceremonies -- in
the nearly two-thirds of cases where families permitted it -- provided
moving reminders to a distracted nation that there was a war going on.
But the access gradually eroded, and Gray arrived to discover that it
was gone.
And soon, so was Gray. After Gates's inquiry into The Post column,
Gray, still days into her new job, began to get some rough treatment.
"Gina, when you leave the building let me know," said a one-line e-
mail from her supervisor, Phyllis White, on May 2. Then Gray was
instructed not to work overtime without written approval, and then was
ordered to take down a Marines poster from her cubicle wall. "Please
change your title from public affairs director to public affairs
officer," White instructed in a June 9 e-mail.
Gray complained to Arlington's superintendent, John Metzler, and was
briefly removed from White and Higginbotham's supervision. But on May
27, White sent an e-mail announcing that "Mr. Metzler changed his
mind, I will continue as your supervisor." The acrimony increased.
Gray went to the hospital complaining of stress-related headaches;
while she was recovering, her BlackBerry was disconnected "to
alleviate you from stress," as White put it.
Arlington's problems with the burial of the Iraq dead go far beyond
Gray; the cemetery is looking for its fourth public affairs director
in the past few years. Gray contends that Higginbotham has been
calling the families of the dead to encourage them not to allow media
coverage at the funerals -- a charge confirmed by a high-ranking
official at Arlington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Gray
says Higginbotham told staff members that he called the family of the
next soldier scheduled for burial at Arlington and that the family,
which had originally approved coverage, had changed its mind. Gray
charges that Higginbotham admitted he had been making such calls to
families for a year and said that the families "appreciated him
keeping the media out."
Higginbotham, White and Metzler did not respond to e-mail messages
yesterday seeking their comment. An Army spokesman said Higginbotham
and other Arlington officials call families only if their wishes
regarding media coverage are unclear.
On June 27, Gray got her termination memo. White said Gray had "been
disrespectful to me as your supervisor and failed to act in an
inappropriate manner." Failed to act in an in appropriate manner? The
termination notice was inadvertently revealing: Only at Arlington
National Ceremony could it be considered a firing offense to act
appropriately.
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
Army Secretary Asks for Probe of Firing
-
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 12, 2008; A02
Army Secretary Pete Geren has asked his staff for an internal review
to examine the Army's firing last month of Gina Gray, the former
public affairs director of Arlington National Cemetery who had worked
to restore media coverage of military funerals.
"The goal is to strike the right balance between the family's needs
and wishes, which always are our top priority, and the interest of the
press," Army spokesman Paul Boyce said in an e-mail.
"The Army continues to work with families and the media to ensure a
respectful experience that honors the memories of our fallen soldiers
and veterans," Boyce said, noting that the cemetery "hosts thousands
of local reporters and national media as well as hundreds of
documentary productions and book photographers each year."
In a phone interview yesterday, Gray said, "I am definitely encouraged
by any investigation into the mismanagement at Arlington Cemetery."
The Washington Post reported on Gray's firing yesterday. After
assuming her director position three months ago, Gray discovered that
cemetery officials were trying to impose new media restrictions on
funerals of Iraq war dead, despite families of the fallen having
granted permission for coverage.
Gray believed the new restrictions were wrong and were not supported
by Army regulations, The Post reported. But she was demoted six weeks
after The Post first reported on her attempts to restore news
coverage, and she was fired on June 27.
"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not
said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I'd still be there,"
Gray told The Post, calling her firing retaliatory. "It's about doing
the right thing."
Geren is seeking more information on the matter, Boyce said. "The
secretary of the Army has asked for an internal review by his staff,"
he said.