Bradley Arnold Ash v. United States of America

GEE, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Ash, punished by the Navy for possession of marijuana in an open nonjudicial proceeding, brought this suit for damages grounded in the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. In it he contends that his privacy was infringed when, over his objections, his name, offense and punishment were published in the daily bulletin of his command. The court below granted summary judgment for the United States, concluding that the disclosure was proper under the “need to know” exception, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)(l), and, alternatively, that since the proceedings themselves were open to…