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Keep InSurvs public

On March 3, the Navy fired the commanding officer of the mine countermeasures ship Devastator because of the ship’s poor material condition. Less than a month earlier, inspectors from the Navy’s ever-exacting Board of Inspection and Survey combed through the ship and, in all likelihood, did not like what they saw.

But because of a rule put in place late last year, exactly what was wrong with the Devastator and whether that cost Lt. Cmdr. Matt Tucker his job will remain a mystery. The reports of all InSurvs taking place after Dec. 1 are classified.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, head of Fleet Forces Command, said through a spokesman that he decided to make the once-public reports secret because he didn’t want potential adversaries to discover weaknesses aboard Navy ships.

This explanation doesn’t match reality. InSurv reports lay out the material condition — but not details or capabilities of — combat and self-defense systems. For the most part, they provide a snapshot of what was broken, leaky or missing during the inspection. The InSurv for the destroyer Stout, for example, pointed out that the galley’s meat slicer and ice cream machine were inoperable, as was one of its three coffee machines.

As for the larger issues InSurvs point out — problems with the main gun and missile cells, in Stout’s case — one would expect that all deficiencies would be fixed or mitigated by the time the ship deploys.

There’s no denying that the past year has been a bruising one for the surface fleet. The high-profile and thoroughly damning InSurvs for the Stout and the cruiser Chosin prompted the head of the Naval Surface Force to tell his sailors to get “back to basics,” especially when it comes to assessing their own ship’s condition.

Open examination of individual InSurv reports is instructional for the broader Navy and helps ensure accountability for the taxpayers funding the fleet.

If an InSurv contains legitimate security concerns, they can be redacted. Or release of the report can be delayed a reasonable amount of time so adversaries can’t gain real-time intel.

President Barack Obama has called for a new era of transparency for government functions, especially when it comes to releasing documents. Navy leaders should heed the advice of the commander in chief.