On Friday, the results of the Navy's preliminary investigation of the accident, in which a Navy submarine collided with the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru, were leaked to the conservative Washington Times newspaper. The paper published excerpts that had been read over the phone to a reporter. The report's conclusions paint an unsettling picture of the involvement of civilians in the accident. The Navy reportedly acknowledges in the document that civilians may have been a contributing factor in the crash, jeopardizing not only the lives of those onboard the Ehime Maru, nine of whom are now missing and presumed dead, but also the crew and passengers of the Greeneville. Though the Navy and a number of former officers and Naval experts have defended the safety of what the Navy refers to as "civilian embarks," the latest allegations raise stark questions about the soundness of that policy.

The report offered the first concrete evidence that the Navy's longtime practice of bringing civilians aboard for joy rides on submarines may pose a threat to public safety. "The location and number of civilian visitors did interfere with the ability of the OOD (officer of the deck) and commanding officer to use the fire-control system and converse with the (technician) in ascertaining the contact picture from the time the ship was preparing for periscope depth until the (rapid ascent) was conducted," the Navy report states, according to the Times.

The role of civilians in the accident will be a major focus of a rare public court of inquiry proceeding that will begin in March in Hawaii. Another subject of the review will be why the Navy conducted the emergency-surfacing operation that led to the crash. Did they do it to make the undersea voyage more thrilling to the civilians aboard the Greeneville? That's another sensational allegation that has fueled criticism since the Feb. 9 incident.

The report specifically criticized the crew of the Greeneville for allowing too many civilians to gather around the ship's periscope. And though it does not blame civilians as the sole cause of the accident, the leaked document makes clear that their presence distracted the crew, and could have been a serious contributing factor. And it flies in the face of what the Navy has told the press so far about the accident.

When asked by PBS "Newshour" host Jim Lehrer on Feb. 15 whether there was any indication so far in the Navy's investigation that civilians played a role in the collision, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated, "None whatsoever." He was backed up by other defense spokespersons who parroted his line.

"First of all, on the civilians, as Secretary Rumsfeld said, there is no indication at this point in the investigation that the civilians had any impact on the outcome. We'll continue to look at that," one stated last week.

It was the fourth major blow to the Navy P.R. machine since the deadly collision. First, the Navy took a full week to release a list of civilian passengers on the ship -- several days after two passengers went on NBC's "Today" show to reveal that they had been at the controls of the submarine as it rocketed to the surface. Reporters had been asking the Navy for the list ever since it revealed -- the day after the accident -- that civilians had been aboard the Greeneville. But the Navy remained intransigent, citing the privacy rights of the passengers -- even as some of them came forward to make network television appearances. That prompted an apology from Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, who told reporters on Feb. 15, "Clearly, in hindsight, we could have done a much better job of making that information known not only to you all, but to the NTSB." Pietropaoli offered a more insightful explanation in a Washington Post interview, admitting that the "institutional reflex for military officers is to continue to gather information and say nothing."

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is now leading the investigation, also revealed Wednesday that the Navy told its investigators that the submarine's fire control technician says he was unable to do his job because the tight quarters of the Greenville's control room had become packed with civilians. That technician's job is to plot sonar data on a large paper chart, which is then used by the captain and crew members in navigation.

Even more damaging was a Washington Post report Friday that the doomed Ehime Maru had been tracked by the Greeneville's sonar at least one hour before the collision -- and that Cmdr. Scott Waddle had been fully aware of the trawler's presence in the vicinity. According to the report, Waddle also told investigators that he was not warned about the boat's proximity to the submarine by his fire control technician. That sailor told investigators that his work was halted because he was distracted by civilians in the overcrowded control room.

Citing unnamed sources at the Pentagon, CNN and the Washington Times both reported that the Navy has found the Greeneville crew had conducted a periscope search that was "too low and too deep to detect the nearby ship." This was all bad news, of course, for suspended Cmdr. Waddle, who on March 5 will face the court of inquiry and possible criminal charges.

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