XBradTC

A friend of a friend tipped me to this story.

The Pentagon’s press secretary said Monday that he was looking into allegations that Army Surgeon Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho sought to delay a Freedom of Information Act request for concussion data and manipulate reporters to cover up potential wrongdoing.

At a confrontational news briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters, “I hear your concerns about this particular incident.” He said, “We treat the FOIA process here, as with other government agencies, as incredibly important.”

Cook said he was not yet fully informed on the details of the allegations that Horoho and the West Point Superintendent, Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., conspired to delay a FOIA request from The New York Times on concussions in the Academy’s mandatory boxing program.

The takeaway line from Watergate has been, for 40 years, “the coverup is worse than the  crime.”

Army medicine faces an astonishing array of challenges, from providing routine healthcare to half a million people to cutting edge trauma treatment to rehabilitation of ghastly wounds to disease prevention in the worst of the Third World, all within the constraints of a shrinking budget and manpower. And by and large, Army medicine does a good (but not perfect) job.

But here we find TSG trying to play the “spin” game. Bad idea. Journalists may be biased, and working to put out a hit job on the Army, but even more so, they’re sensitive to being shopped this way. This is simply playing into the worst beliefs of the journalists, confirming to them that you are untrustworthy. They know the spin game much better than you do.

Here’s the thing. Yes, bad things often happen in the Army, either through stupidity, or enemy action. When a FOIA comes in, fill it. What would have been one day of bad press exposure now has turned into an investigation that might easily terminate the careers of two Lieutenant Generals.

Stick to medicine, LTG Horoho. Let someone else play PR flack.