AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF THE REPORTS OF APAS PEER-REVIEW PANEL IN THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF THE USS IOWA INCIDENT

The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (HASC) revi ew of the U.S. Navy's investigation of the U.S.S. IOWA incident provid es a case study of the problems with reconstructive psychological eval uations. The U.S. Navy attributed the explosion on board the U.S.S. IO WA to the intentional suicidal acts of Gunner's Mate Clayton Hartwig, a conclusion supported primarily by an Equivocal Death Analysis (EDA) conducted by the FBI. Systematic analysis of the reports of the expert panelists who consulted to the HASC reveals that 11 of the 14 panelis ts were critical of the conclusions reached by the Navy/FBI. There was considerable variability among the judgments of the panelists, who re ached consensus only for broad categories. Because the reliability and validity of postmortem psychological reconstructions such as EDA and psychological autopsy have not been established, clinicians are urged to exercise caution in the use of such procedures and to be sensitive to ethical obligations to consumers when using such techniques.