Acquaintance of ‘Today’s’ Lauer Led to Sub Scoop

NBC’s “Today” show got an exclusive interview Thursday with two civilians who were aboard the Navy submarine Greeneville when it struck and sank a Japanese fishing boat.

The show landed the interview after one of the civilians, Todd Thoman, called anchor Matt Lauer seeking advice. Thoman once had sold clothing to Lauer at a New York men’s store and had known him for five years.

When Thoman called Lauer’s office Wednesday afternoon looking for advice about how to deal with the media, Lauer already had left for the day, “Today” spokeswoman Allison Gollust said. Producers tracked down Lauer, who called Thoman. During the conversation, Lauer realized that Thoman had been aboard the Greeneville on Friday and convinced him to do an interview.

Thoman was interviewed Thursday with his wife, Deanda, at his side. John Hall, another civilian who was on the Greeneville, also participated. Hall was at a control station when the sub surfaced. The “Today” show abandoned its usual format to do the 14-minute interview at the beginning of the program.

Gollust said that Thoman set one condition for the interview: that NBC would not provide information to anyone else, including other NBC News programs, about how to reach him “because he was not looking for publicity” and was concerned about becoming the subject of a media frenzy.

Asked about why he had agreed to the interview, Thoman told Lauer: “Well, there really wasn’t a need to speak out initially. This is a search-and-rescue mission as of today. . . . And not until the increased pressure from media sources [as they] began to speculate as to our activities on board the ship and different papers offering information and financial settlements for our identities did we feel it was important to get out the fact that the most important thing here is nine people are reported missing--kids, adults--and that’s the true tragedy in the story, and that needs to remain the focus of this.”

Added Hall: “When we were . . . debriefed for a short period--I don’t think anybody wanted to talk to the press. I don’t think we thought we were the story. We aren’t the story. . . . But the press can’t talk to the captain and they’re not really able to talk to the crew. . . . And quite frankly, you have 16 middle-class Americans who thought they were getting the ride of their lifetime and it didn’t turn out that way. It turned into a tragedy.”