Rk. Otto et al., AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF THE REPORTS OF APAS PEER-REVIEW PANEL IN THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF THE USS IOWA INCIDENT, Journal of personality assessment, 61(3), 1993, pp. 425-442
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.