STATUS OF INQUIRY INTO DISTURBING PATTERN OF DEATH AMONG NAVAL SERVICEMEN WHILE IN TRAINING (House of Representatives - January 03, 1989)

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The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Roth] is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to report to my colleagues on the status of the inquiry into a disturbing pattern of deaths among Navy servicemen while undergoing training. This inquiry began last spring as the result of irregularities that came to my attention surrounding the tragic death of Airman Lee Mirecki, of Appleton, WI. In looking into the matter, I discovered that 16 other Navy men had died since January 1986 while undergoing training. In six of these cases, involving young men at the peak of physical fitness, death was attributed to heart problems.

Having obtained this information, last June I asked for a two-pronged investigation. On June 8, I asked the Comptroller General, to determine what really happened to Lee Mirecki and the other 16 men, and how this pattern of one death every 8 weeks could have occurred. The entire Wisconsin congressional delegation joined me in that request.

On June 21, this House agreed to my amendment to the fiscal year 1989 Defense appropriations bill, requiring a report from the Secretary of Defense on the causes and circumstances of all Navy training deaths since 1985, and the measures he and the Navy Secretary are taking to prevent further deaths. Subsequently, with the help of Senator Proxmire, the other body agreed to my amendment and it was included in the final version of the DOD Appropriations Act.

These two initiatives were carefully undertaken to provide the Congress with a thorough examination of safety in Navy training. My goal is to have two separate reports--first by the Department responsible for overseeing the Navy and the second by our independent investigative agency--to give us two views of this serious situation. With these reports, we should obtain an agenda for improving safety and preventing needless deaths.

Since the 100th Congress adjourned into October, there have been several important developments which my colleagues should note. First, the GAO has responded with a substantial investigation. On December 7, the GAO team conducted a briefing for me and the Wisconsin delegation. They reported finding serious safety problems in Navy training and systemic inadequacies in the Navy's management of safety in its training courses. Specifically, the GAO found:

Inadequate assessment of candidates for the Navy's rescue swimmer school.
Inadequate selection and training of instructors for high-risk courses
Inadequate safety precautions and emergency medical procedures.

Significantly, in four of the other deaths aside from Lee Mirecki's, lack of emergency medical responses and failure to follow safety procedures were factors.

Perhaps most shocking was GAO's finding that in all four of the Navy investigations of Lee Mirecki's death, there had been a complete failure to look into the reports of a coverup of the truth. Statements about a coverup began circulating immediately after Lee Mirecki's death--statements that reached his family, reached me and the news media. Yet the Navy failed to look into those statements. The final GAO report, due in mid-February, will have further details on this incredible dereliction.
Having received GAO's very disturbing findings, I immediately provided this information to Navy officials, and requested a meeting with Defense Secretary Carlucci to discuss his report, which was due on December 31.

For nearly 3 weeks, I heard nothing from Secretary Carlucci's office, despite both telephone and written requests for a meeting. Finally, last Thursday, I was informed that an Assistant Secretary, Mr. Grant Green, would be available to see me. I agreed and met with him last Friday.

With the statutorily required report due the next day, I asked to review its contents. What I was given was a nine-page recitation of the 17 deaths, the barest details of the causes of death, and a sketchy description of supposed improvements in safety procedures.

Frankly, I found the report indecipherable and inadequate. Our congressional mandate was clear: To report on the causes and circumstances of these deaths and report on what was done to prevent further deaths.

My first impression of the DOD report was confirmed when, in the course of the meeting, I learned that the Navy had come to many of the same conclusions as had the GAO team, and that a broad review of safety was underway. Yet nowhere in the DOD report was there a mention of these findings. Assistant Secretary Green and his staff had no explanation for this serious omission.
Mr. Green agreed that the report did not meet the requirements and suggested that the document be submitted as an `interim report.' Although the statute does not contemplate an incomplete report, I agreed to accept it, on the condition that the Defense Department finish the job.

That is where the inquiry stands today. On the one hand we have findings by the GAO team that Navy training is still not as safe as it should be, and that Navy investigative procedures are faulty. On the other, we have an unfortunate record of consistently inadequate response by the Navy, and a failure thus far by the Defense Department to look closely at what has occurred in its subordinate agency.

What makes this matter so serious is that the Lee Mirecki tragedy could occur again. Young men and women who commit themselves to defending our country should be trained well and adequately, but that training should not put their lives at needless risk.

Moreover, the American people, and especially the families of those who give their lives in military service, must have confidence that they are told the truth about those tragedies. As one member of Congress, I will not rest until the military brass fulfill their duty and restore that trust, which their failures have damaged.

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