"What's up with the random half staff flags?"

Strict followers of protocol are often amused in Washington, DC by the often haphazard nature of flags at half mast in the Nation's Capital. Generally, when a flag should be lowered, the vast majority of Federal buildings and facilities get it right; but the high number of flags flying at any one time makes it quite noticeable when that small percentage gets it wrong. I've even seen the flag flying proudly from one flag pole, while (properly) half masted on the opposite side of the building.

So last week, when a good friend of mine was visiting amidst the followup to Senator Kennedy's death, the very valid question "What's up with the random half staff flags?" came up. Fair enough, Allison, let's see if we can answer this to your satisfaction.

Let's begin with why we do this ceremony. Like many, it dates back to antiquity, when flags played a very real role in communication. The flag was lowered to allow the invisible flag of Death to fly above it. No word if Death actually chose to fly his flag there, but the tradition stuck. This served a practical purpose to allow visitors approaching a town or castle know that the area was in mourning and to prepare accordingly. Interestingly enough, the Royal Standard of Great Britain is never flown at half mast, as the Sovereign is never dead.

Fair enough, we can all get this. Someone dies, lower the flag. But when, and for whom? Well, in the United States, the applicable legal instruction is 4 U.S.C. § 7(m). For those of you too lazy to click through, let's summarize when those occasions are:

1. Memorial Day, until noon, then closed up to full mast.
2. Peace Officers Memorial Day (May 15th), unless that happens to be Armed Forces Day
   
3. 30 days for the death of a President, sitting or former.
4. 10 days for a sitting Vice President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (current or former), or Speaker of the House (current).
5. until interment for Associate Justice, Cabinet Secretary, former VP, and any Governor.
6. the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress
7. Whenever the President damn well feels like it (note: it's not worded this way).
   

It's number 7 that we'll focus on for a bit here. I should note, that in addition to a President, Governors can do this as well, but obviously only in the area they govern. The President has a great deal of leeway in choosing when to do this, and the most recent case was for Sen. Kennedy. Normally, the President orders the flag lowered for Pearl Harbor day and September 11th every year, but there is no requirement to do so.

Now, these rules are fairly straightforward, so why the discrepancy when you walk around DC? Mostly, it's operator error. Not everyone gets the message. Even when I was in the Navy, when such things were taken quite seriously, it's wasn't unknown to see one solitary ship who didn't quite get the message among dozens in a harbor. Usually followed by incredible amounts of pain and suffering once it was found out. So among hundreds of buildings, many of them only leased by the government, it would be surprising if everyone did get the word on time.

It's also possible, although I've never heard of it, for a private entity to choose not to half staff the flag. After all, the President can't order a private citizen to do anything, much less fly a flag a certain way. Title 4, referenced above, is U.S. law, but there is no penalty associated with breaking it. Heck, the Supreme Court has ruled you can even burn the thing, much less not fly it correctly. But I would be surprised if an entity in DC decided to do it deliberately.

And on a final note, lets take a quick look at the terminology I've used so far. Astute and detail oriented readers may have noticed that I've used the terms "half mast" and "half staff" interchangeably here. Strictly speaking the vast majority of flags you see in DC are to be half staffed, not half masted. Can anyone tell me why?

Comments

[Kristen]

actually, all the flags in DC would be half-staffed. US Govt has gone with "half staff" as the official term. Canada goes by "half mast". Though I suppose many will say that half mast would be on ship and half staff would be on land, but that's more colloquial than official.

[padre]

I prefer half ast,as it were

[aileen]

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

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