As Senator Kerry enters into the final stretch of the presidential campaign still dogged by questions about his war medals and military service, he would do well to remember how his friend and colleague, John McCain, handled a similar controversy.

Five years ago, when rumors swirled that Mr. McCain was not healthy and stable enough to be president, the senator from Arizona choose to put openness before privacy, releasing his medical records in excruciating detail.

This was not just a matter of good citizenship on Mr. McCain’s part. It turned out to be good politics as well, a show of leadership that helped give Mr. McCain an early boost as a challenger to the governor of Texas at the time, George W. Bush.

In contrast, the Massachusetts senator got a pass on answering questions about his medals and conduct in military service, with help several weeks ago from timid officials in the Navy. As a result, the Kerry campaign and the Navy continue to keep the press and the public in the dark about central issues regarding the Democratic nominee’s service history. Saddest of all, Mr. Kerry himself is missing a grand opportunity to show decisive leadership by being as painstakingly open as Mr. McCain was.

The issue involves many pertinent questions raised about the war medals and heroic claims that Mr. Kerry has presented to the public. These are not bureaucratic quibbles but serious reservations about what seem to be glaring discrepancies in the senator’s official account.

For example, news reports disclosed in August that the Kerry campaign’s Web site displays a document listing a “Silver Star with a combat V.” The combat “V” device, however, is never given with the nation’s third highest award for heroism. Stranger still is the remark made by former Navy Secretary John Lehman, a well-respected figure in Washington who recently served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, who told the Chicago Sun-Times of the Silver Star citation: “It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me.” Moreover, accounts from other veterans – in some cases, sworn testimony – contradict the basis for three Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star, as well as the Silver Star.

In late August, the nonpartisan Judicial Watch followed up on these press concerns by filing a Freedom of Information Act request to examine Mr. Kerry’s military record. We also called on the Navy to investigate the senator’s service record. On September 17, the Navy inspector general turned down our request to conduct a formal investigation.

The Navy’s I.G. offered no specific documentary evidence or exhibits to allay the doubts cast on this case by a former secretary of the Navy and other credible witnesses. Instead, the Navy’s Personnel Command Office bizarrely, and inappropriately, referred us to the Kerry campaign’s Internet site, as if that could be a reliable source for the FOIA documents. Stranger still, Judicial Watch learned that a Kerry campaign staffer was aware of the contents of the Navy I.G.’s response before the I.G.’s letter was even faxed to us.

The bottom line here is that Mr. Kerry is missing a big chance to shine. He could help restore integrity to the political process by being a leader who sets an example with transparency and openness.

Even if the questions about his military records turn out to be irrelevant and unfair, what would he have to lose by releasing all these records himself? This is what Mr. Bush did when critics questioned his 30-year-old record as a National Guard pilot. The president and his people responded to their critics by producing records by the pound. It was precisely because the White House had been so thorough that the CBS story on Bush’s service seemed so sensational – and why CBS fell so hard when it turned out it had run with documents that were forged.

This is not to say that the Bush White House has always been a model of openness. Parts of Bush’s National Guard records have yet to be released. The White House also continues to invoke an unprecedented doctrine of executive power to fend off examination of internal records relating to Vice President Cheney’s controversial Energy Task Force.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Mr. Kerry, however, seems content to slink in the shadows. He doesn’t have to hide behind the bureaucratic reluctance of Navy officials who are afraid to get embroiled in a controversial topic. If Mr. Kerry wants to end these questions, turn the tables on his critics, and best Mr. Bush, he should ask the Pentagon to open all his military records to the public.

If he does, he will find that openness is the show of leadership that could be just what his campaign needs to energize the voters.

Mr.Fitton is president of Judicial Watch, a nonpartisan organization that promotes transparency, integrity, and accountability in government, politics, and the law.