Transparency and disciplinary action

Military Times's Geoff Ziezulewicz is continuing to track the naval justice aspects of the McCain and Fitzgerald cases. His latest article, "Secrecy and uncertainty surround[] Navy discipline for fatal ship collisions," can be found here. Excerpt:

More than five months after 17 sailors were crushed and drowned aboard the destroyers Fitzgerald and John S. McCain, the Navy is declining to make public the number and nature of disciplinary actions taken against crew members.

At the same time, uncertainty exists regarding the status of past disciplinary actions. Navy officials confirmed this week that the service is reviewing an unknown number of disciplinary measures that were meted out last year.

That review “is both considering all previous actions and reviewing cases in which no action was taken to ensure fairness, consistency, and appropriate accountability,” Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Day said in an email.

This might be a good opportunity to revisit public information policies as well as the substance of previous disposition decisions. Indeed, should transparency standards on the disposition of cases differ from one service to another? How about going purple on this?