Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he will allow news media photographs of fallen American troops returning to the U.S. if their families agree.

Gates announced the new policy at a Pentagon news briefing. His decision follows a departmental review of a policy adopted in 1991 that has barred coverage of returning war dead at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Whether the media should be allowed to attend the arrivals and photograph the returning caskets is a decision that “should be made by those most directly affected on an individual basis, by the families of the fallen,” Gates said.

He ordered the review on Feb. 10, a day after President Barack Obama told reporters at a White House news conference that he was interested in restudying the policy.

The Pentagon has said the policy was established to protect the privacy of the welcome-home ceremony; critics have said the main purpose is to shield the American public from the full reality of the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates said that because the policy was put in place during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, “as far as I’m concerned that’s ancient history, and I’m not going to try and figure out the motives.”

Senator Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat who has advocated allowing media access, said the ban wasn’t enforced during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Ban Reinstated

Clinton allowed distribution of photos of the returning caskets of victims of the USS Cole bombing in 2000, Lautenberg said in a statement. He said the ban was reinstated after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 under former President George W. Bush.

“As a result, the American public was denied the opportunity to grieve and honor the sacrifice of more than 4,000 servicemen and women who died over the past five years,” Lautenberg said. “We should honor -- not hide -- flag-draped coffins.”

A spokesman for the American Legion, which represents 2.6 million U.S. war veterans, said his group would have preferred that the old policy remained in force. “The solemnity of the ceremony is what we’ve always been concerned about,” said the spokesman, John Raughter.

Now that a change has been made, his organization will seek to ensure that families’ wishes are respected, Raughter said in a telephone interview. “We want to make sure that the seriousness and respect of the occasion is observed,” he said.

‘Share In the Mourning’

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, joined Lautenberg in welcoming the change. “I’ve heard from many families of our fallen soldiers who wanted the entire nation to share in the mourning when we bring our heroes home,” he said in a statement.

Gates said he first asked about changing the policy more than a year ago. He said he reluctantly backed off after Pentagon officials told him allowing the media might violate the privacy of family members.

“I was never comfortable with it,” Gates said of the policy. “When I heard the president express his concern and desire to have it reviewed, I started the process the next morning.”

As part of that review, Gates said, department officials discussed the issue with representatives of military families. He said those representatives support the new policy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 19:33 EST