A briefing on “NAVAIR Budget Status and Furlough Planning” has been closed to the media by NAVAIR. Only members of the Patuxent Partnership will be allowed to attend the free briefing tomorrow morning (Wednesday, June 5) at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center.
The media are normally invited to Patuxent Partnership briefings. But a spokesperson for the member organization said the meeting is being closed to the press at the request of NAVAIR and not the Patuxent Partnership.
An inquiry by the Bay Net to NAVAIR as to why the session is being closed brought a response from spokesperson Amy Dehrman that the briefing was technical in nature and solely for industry representatives. When asked if the issues weren’t important enough for small businesses who deal with defense contractors and the general public to be informed about through the media, she said selected videos would be posted on the NAVAIR website of portions of the briefing.
The issues to be discussed at the briefing are of personal interest to the employees of the defense contractors who are members of the Patuxent Partnership. And not all defense contractors in the community belong to the Patuxent Partnership. And not all Patuxent Partnership members will be able to attend.
Without the media in attendance, the workers of Patuxent Partnership members will have to depend on word from their employers about the future unveiled at the meeting by NAVAIR. Those who aren’t members or can’t attend will have to depend on those selected videos
The briefing will be given by NAVAIR Deputy Commander Garry Newton. He gave a similar briefing several months ago for the Patuxent Partnership at the same location that was open to the media. Here is the Bay Net story from that meeting http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/31161
