DOD Establishes Wounded Warrior Task Force
"The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness announced today the names of 14 people who will serve on the Department of Defense Task Force for Care, Management, and Transition of Recovering Wounded, Ill, and Injured Members of the Armed Forces.

The four year mission of the congressionally directed task force is to provide independent advice and recommendations to the department, ensuring comprehensive services are provided to wounded members of the armed forces and their families.

The task force will look at areas including medical and non-medical case management; staffing of wounded warrior units; performance and accountability systems; services for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as the effectiveness of the centers of excellence. Individual service members, their families, and the public will have the opportunity to provide input to the task force as it develops its recommendations on DoD’s wounded warrior programs..."

Obama Administration Lifts Blanket Ban on Media Coverage of the Return of Fallen Soldiers
"[February 26, 2009]Today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lifted a blanket ban on news media coverage of the honor guard ceremonies that mark the return of military casualties from abroad. The new policy will permit media coverage of the ceremonies, during which caskets draped with American flags are brought home from war, after consultation with the families of the fallen. The Obama administration’s move restores press access to the honor ceremonies, which had been the practice from World War II through the Panama invasion of 1989. During the lead-up to the Gulf War in 1991, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney instituted the ban. The news media lost a first amendment challenge to the ban, but Professor Ralph Begleiter and the National Security Archive forced the release of hundreds of images taken by military photographers under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2005."