Walter Reed scandal - an annotated bibliography

Dana Priest at the Washington Post has an excellent series describing the problems faced by wounded soldiers and Marines who are assigned to the holding company at Walter Reed Hospital and are outpatients. I am providing an annotated bibliography of the stories so that readers who want to know what is going on can go back to the first report published February 18, 2007, and have continued to report what is happening after that initial report. Most of the reports I have found on the internet have been from the Washington post. I am not ignoring other news organizations unless they are republishing what the Washington Post already reported.

Any suggestions and additional reports would be appreciated. Email me or post a comment after the article here. Thanks.

• US Army denies 'gag orders,' but says patients can 'go to Starbucks' to talk to media
  Raw Story by Josh Catone
  03/01/2007
  The Chief Press guy at Walter Reed claims their instructions to the troops were misunderstood. Patients have to get permission to speak to reporters on the Walter Reed campus, but if they don't want to get permission they can always go to Starbucks to talk.
  [In my opinon this is just an adequate save after some idiot commander put out a stupid order, which was the first half of the above. He was surprised when the Press got all uppity about the Right of free speech, so he then talked to the PR guy (who he should have spoken to before putting out the order) and Army spokesman Paul Boyce told the reporters that the Right to Free Speech had not been taken away, just moved to Starbucks. Decent save in a situation the Army should not have been in the first place.
  
  Oh, and Dana Priest has previously pointed out that Building 18 is NOT on the Walter Reed campus.]


• Live Discussion with Dana Priest
  Washington Post by Dana Priest
  03/01/2007
  Dana Priest answers questions about her Walter Reed series.
  


• Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect
  Washington Post by Anne Hull and Dana Priest.
  03/01.2007
  The top Army medical officers both at Walter Reed and in the Army Medical Command up to the Army Surgeon General knew of the poor conditions of outpatients at Walter Reed since 2003.


• Walter Reed General Relieved of Command
  Washington Post by William Branigin
  03/01/2007
  The Army, finding that blaming a few low-level enlisted persons has not been enough to satisfy the mob Press, relieves the Commanding General of Walter Reed Hospital.
  [Responsibility goes even higher in my opinion. It's a shame the Army and DoD didn't move this rapidly with Abu Ghraib. There is another similarity to Abu Ghraib, however. At Abu Ghraib it was low-level enlisteds blamed first, then mostly low-ranking and Reserve Officers at higher levels. Here it is low-ranking enlisted first, and now Surgeons. When it comes down to it, a General who is a Surgeon is not in the military "flag officers club" really. He is a real surgeon who is considered sort of an honorary General. Surgeons are thown off the sleigh to the wolves before "real" Generals, just like Reserve Officers. They don't belong to the club of "Ring Knockers." [Refers to West Point graduation rings.]


• Military Press Crackdown Extends Further Than Walter Reed
  Editor & Publisher by Joe Strupp.
  02/28/2007
  The military is now preventing reporters from talking to military people on a number of military posts if the stories show bad news.


• Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
  Army Times by Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
  02/28/2007
  The soldiers and Marines in the Army's Walther Reed Holding Unit have been told that they will get up at 6:00 AM every morning and have a room inspection at 7:00 AM. This is something not normally done after a soldier has graduated from Basic Training. Sure sounds punitive to me. I wonder why? Oh, and they are also forbidden to speak to the Media.
  


• Administrative Issues Cited at Walter Reed
  Washington Post by Steve Vogel
  02/25/2007
  An unfinished Army study of problems in Army Health systems that began in April provides some description of the problems at Walter Reed and other Army medical facilities. The initial problem, surfaced by a GAO study report, were about difficulties with the Army's system for evaluating the fitness of wounded soldiers to stay in the service. The Army's study also surfaced problems in training of workers who assist patients, information-management databases are inadequate and are "policy disconnects" between Army regulations and Defense Department instructions.
  


• Panel to probe conditions at Walter Reed
  Houston Chronicle [from AP] by Robert Burns AP Military Writer
  02/24/2007
  Sec. Def. Gates told reporters that people would be held accountable for the problems at Walter Reed Hospital, and that senior leaders were not immune to accountability.
  


• Review At Walter Reed Is Ordered - Defense Secretary Vows accountability
  Washington Post by Steve Vogel
  02/24/2007
  Sec. Def. Bob Gates appointed an independent Review Panel to investigate the reported conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. Also:

  "The Senate Armed Services Committee has tentatively scheduled hearings on the facility for March 6, said a spokeswoman for the panel's chairman, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the ranking minority member of the committee, toured the facility yesterday."

  Pressure on the Army is building. It's about time.
  


• The Army's Preemptive News Briefing
  Washington Post by Howard Kurtz
  02/24/2007
  Dana Priest spent four months interviewing soldiers and Marines at Walther Reed Hospital about their story, then contacted the Commanding General, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, to get his responses to the findings. Maj. Gen. Weightman asked for time before the story was published to get a response, and Dana Priest gave him six days. Then, before the six days were up, the Press Officer of Walther Reed called in the Washington Post's competitors for a briefing. This was breaking the agreement that Walter Reed had made to get the six days grace period. Kurtz says that Priest let the Walter Reed Press Officer know that she was quite unhappy, and not going to extend such courtesies in the future.
  


• Painting Over the Problems at Walter Reed's Building 18
  Washington Post by Dana Milbank
  02/23/2007
  A quick cleaning, a series of hasty repairs covered by a quick coat of paint, and the Army officials invited the Press in to see the improvement to Building 18. The difficulty is that the problems that are impeding the recovery of wounded soldiers and Marines who were waiting for administrative decisions regarding their futures are in the bureaucracy and are a lot more than just unpainted walls, rats, mnice and cockroaches.


• Walter Reed Stories Factual But Unfair, Medical Chief Says
  Washington Post
  02/23/2007 by Steve Vogel
  Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, chief of the Army Medical Command said that the stories were factual but one-sided.


• Walter Reed Continues Quality Care, Concern for Recovering Wounded
  Army Press Release
  02/22/2007
  This is the Army's first response to the Press about the Walter Reed Hospital articles in the Washington Post starting 02/18/2007


• At Walter Reed, 'We're Going to Fix It'
  Washington Post
  02/22/2007 by Ann Scott Tyson
  Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, promises to repair the facilities for outpatients at Walter Reed.


• Live discussion with Post Staff Writer Dana Priest
  Washington Post by Dana Priest
  02/22/2007
  This covers a lot of comments on the Walter Reed series, as well as other things that Dana Priest has covered.
  


• Swift Action Promised at Walter Reed
  Washington Post by Dana Priest and Anne Hull
  02/21/2007
  "The White House and congressional leaders called yesterday for swift investigation and repair of the problems plaguing outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as veterans groups and members of Congress in both parties expressed outrage over substandard housing and the slow, dysfunctional bureaucracy there."
  


• The Hotel Aftermath
  Washington Post.
  02/19/2007 by Anne Hull and Dana Priest
  This is a continuation of the story from 02/18/2007. Instead of Building 18 it features Mologne House, a military hotel originally intended as a short-term lodging facility for military personnel, retirees and their family members. Now it is used for some of the outpatients from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


• Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
  Washington Post.
  02/18/2007 by Dana Priest and Anne Hull.
  The first in the WaPo's series of stories on the neglect and mismanagement of wounded outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital. There are almost 700 military wounded, mostly soldiers, some Marines, no longer in hospital beds but still in need of either treatment of administrative decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty. Many are living in old and battered buildings with cockroaches, mice, with old, stained, cheap and battered furnishings. Building 18 is featured in this story.