Posted on 09/23/2001 10:30:38 AM PDT by Clinton's a liar
At the invitation of UPI, Jon Loose and I wrote this op-ed and submitted it a week ago. UPI told us that every single person who read it there said that this was not commentary but that it was news. They have told us they were assigning staff to cover this story.
Since Newsmax has broken the story, I thought it time to put out information that has not yet come to light.
Hindsight is always 20/20. You see causes and proactive avenues that could have altered the outcome. Sometimes these ignored actions are discounted as unreasonable. Other times, you point your finger at a deserved party.
In the wake of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, the most compelling raison d'être is that we failed to take our own advice. More specifically, the weaknesses in airport security were largely identified a number of years ago.
In July of 1996, in the wake of the crash of TWA flight 800, President Clinton convened the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security by executive order 13015 to take place on August 22, 1996. He gave the commission 45 days to “study matters involving aviation safety and security, including air traffic control and to develop a strategy to improve aviation safety and security, both domestically and internationally,” then present their conclusions. He named Vice President Al Gore to head the commission. By special invitation of the President, Victoria Cummock was named to the commission. Ms. Cummock lost her husband in the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scottland some eight years prior. According to Newsday, Cummock held the reputation at the time of “the airlines’ most tenacious foe.”
Five years prior to September 11, 2001, Gore held a press conference to announce the commission’s preliminary report that promised, “to take the strongest measures possible to reduce the risk of terrorism and sabotage to airline passengers and crews.” Gore further stated that their upcoming proposed measures will, “be put into place quickly and effectively and will help ensure that airline travel remains as safe as possible for all travelers.” A solid and factual preliminary report backed up Gore’s comments.
Ten days later, just prior to the 1996 election, Gore penned a letter to airline lobbyist Carol Hallett, promising that the commission's findings would not cause the airlines any loss of revenue. The very next day the Democratic National Committee received a check in the amount of $40,000 from TWA. Over the next two weeks Northwest, United and American Airlines donated $55,000 more.
In the next two months the Democratic National Committee pocketed over $250,000 from American Airlines. United Airlines threw in an additional $100,000. Northwest Airlines added $53,000. That’s a grand total of over half a million dollars. According to the Washington Times, Whitehouse Spokesman, Ginny Terzano gave no denial when asked whether Al Gore solicited these airline donations personally.
Contributory advice and suggestions were being sought and incorporated into the draft(s) of the report by all sides of the aisle and divisions of government including intelligence agencies, transportation agencies and military personnel. The draft final form was presented to the 21 participating commissioners in January of 1997. According to the Washington Times, a significant number of security measures were removed from the proposed final draft of the report.
Victoria Cummock and CIA Director John Deutch were resolute in their opposition to the “softball” report. Gore was given no choice but to pull back the report. Reinstalled were sensible new procedures that would cost the airlines millions of dollars.
· Conduct airport vulnerability assessments and develop action plans
· Require criminal background checks and FBI fingerprint checks for all screeners, and all airport and airline employees with access to secure areas
· Deploy existing technology
· Signifi cantly expand the use of bomb-sniffing dogs
· Complement technology with automated passenger profiling
· Certify screening companies and improve screener performance
· Aggressively test existing security systems
· Use the Customs Service to enhance security
· Give properly cleared airline and airport security personnel access to the classified information they need to know
· Begin implementation of full bag-passenger match · Providing more compassionate and effective assistance to families of victims
· Improve passenger manifests
· Significantly increase the number of FBI agents assigned to counter-terrorism investigations, to improve intelligence, and to crisis response
· Provide anti-terrorism assistance in the form of airport security training to countries where there are airports served by airlines flying to the US
The security measures were in the final recommendation report. However, the implementation timetable was nowhere to be found.
In February of 1997, Victoria Cummock called the report “toothless.” She informed Gore that unless specific implementation dates were added in the report she would file a dissent, because the airline industry would not have to do anything until such measures were mandated.
On February 12, 1997, an open meeting was held on the commission’s final report. Gore made a point to inform Ms. Cummock that he would leave room for her dissent to the final report. NBC Dateline caught these comments on videotape. Also on videotape was Mr. Gore presenting the final report to President Clinton minutes later and pronouncing that the report had unanimous consent. But it didn’t.
Victoria Cummock filed suit claiming that Gore pressured her to abandon her call for counter-terrorist measures, the right to see commission files of which she was denied, and the right to file her 42-page dissent. It was her ambition to see the commission’s findings presented accurately within the final report. Gore painted Cummock, who had lost her husband in a terrorist act, as a disgruntled commissioner.
In mid 1999 Ms. Cummock won her case in the D.C. Court of Appeals. In the long drawn out and impeded discovery process a memo was discovered from a CIA staffer, specializing in psychological profiling. According to The American Spectator, the memo stated that Cummock could be "kept in line if she believes progress could be made" but "could become a major problem."
On September 11, 2001, those ultimately responsible for the destruction of thousands of precious lives were the terrorists who pulled the knives and steered the planes.
But playing politics and intentionally ignoring obvious safety and security voids in an industry that has been a target of terrorists for over thirty years is unconscionable.
Now the airlines are paying the price. We all are.
Roy
Al Gore and Bill Clinton were quite competent in their treachery. Unintended consequences? Perhaps.
Airports!
It might be interesting to list those with Islamic terrorist ownership and partial ownership!
The Washington Times
www.washtimes.com
High-flying politics
Tony Blankley
Published 9/6/2000
Al Gore is about to have woman troubles: No, not that kind. Her name is Victoria Cummock. She alleges that Mr. Gore was in bed, not with a woman, but with the airline industry he was entrusted to investigate when TWA Flight 800 went down. In June last year she won a little-noted decision in the D.C. Court of Appeals that keeps her search for truth alive. The search continues, and Mr. Gore is about to learn that Mrs. Cummock is not a woman with whom to be trifled.
What brings her case to mind is the maxim of Washington journalism that if a politician champions a particular value, he deserves to be measured by that standard himself. So, when I see Mr. Gore repeatedly assume the heroic pose on behalf of the little guy against the powerful special interests, my thoughts turn to Victoria Cummock. Here's why.
In 1996, in the aftermath of the crash of TWA Flight 800, President Clinton personally called Mrs. Cummock to ask her to serve as a commissioner on The White House Commission on Aviation Safety, created to investigate the crash. He also appointed Mr. Gore to be its chairman. She was chosen because her husband had been killed in the Pan Am 103/Lockerbie crash. Since then, she had become a leading passenger-rights advocate, and Mr. Clinton had assured her he sincerely wanted to develop new, tough counter-terrorism procedures. He instructed Mr. Gore to make recommendations within 45 days.
The Gore Commission produced a tough preliminary report, and at a Sept. 9, 1996, press conference Mr. Gore publicly asserted the need for those changes. And then, all hell broke loose — but for Mr. Gore, not for the terrorists. "Within ten days, the whole [airline] industry jumped all over Al Gore," Mrs. Cummock reported. On Sept. 19, Mr. Gore sent a letter to airline lobbyist Carol Hallett, promising that the commission's findings would not cause the airlines any loss of revenue. The next day the Democratic National Committee received a $40,000 contribution from TWA. In the next two weeks Northwest, United and American Airlines donated $55,000 more.
In the following two months (leading up to the November 1996 presidential elections) American Airlines donated a quarter of a million dollars to the Democrats. United Airlines donated $100,000 to the DNC. Northwestern upped its anty to $53,000. In all, Mr. Gore and the Democrats collected almost half a million dollars between the election and the day — two months before — that Mr. Gore assured the airlines his commission wouldn't cost them any money.
At the time, White House spokesperson Ginny Terzano refused either to confirm or deny that Mr. Gore personally solicited the airline contributions. But that is not what got Victoria Cummock's dander up.
In January 1997, Mr. Gore's staff circulated a draft final report that eliminated all security measures from their findings. Not only Mrs. Cummock, but CIA Director and fellow Commissioner John Deutch complained. So Mr. Gore pulled back the draft. In February Mr. Gore finally came up with the classic Washington ploy. The final report called for sensible new procedures that would cost the airlines millions of dollars: 450 high tech bomb detectors, more training for airport security, criminal background checks for security personnel, increased canine patrols. But Victoria Cummock noticed one thing was missing — there was no timetable to accomplish these requirements. She informed the vice president that without timetables, the report was "toothless" and she couldn't support it, but instead would file a dissent.
It was a classic Washington victory. The policy wonks got their proposals noticed, the airlines got their bottom line protected and Mr. Gore got his party the money. The only losers were the passengers, who got no increased security from terrorism. So, when Mr. Gore actually had a chance to fight, rather than talk about, the powerful special interests on behalf of the little guy, he turned his money-stuffed coat and protected the interests that bought him.
In an open meeting on Feb. 12, Mr. Gore stated that he would leave room in the final report for Victoria Cummock's dissent. A few minutes later at the White House, as Mr. Gore presented the final report to President Clinton, the vice president announced that the report was unanimous. Both of those Gore lies are on video tape. NBC's Dateline has the tapes.
And so Mrs. Cummock went to court. Not on behalf of some conspiracy theory, but on the right to see commission files that were denied her and the right to file a dissent. She only wanted the commission's own findings to be enforced. After winning in the D.C. Court of Appeals last year, she is slowly gaining discovery of the commission's secret files.
She has already found one interesting document in the secret commission files: A letter to Mr. Gore from his now famous convicted felon fund-raiser Maria Hsia. In that note she talks about the successful fund-raiser at the Buddhist Temple and asks the vice president for help in getting government funding for her to be part of the Project Citizenship initiative. Now, however did that note end up in the secret Gore Commission files? More to come.
This column was researched with the assistance of John B. Roberts II who first reported many of these facts in the American Spectator.
E-mail: tonyblankley@erols.com
Copyright © 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
Journal of Commerce
February 24, 1997
Monday SPECIAL REPORT; Pg. 4
News & Views
Ira Rosenfeld
(snip)
OUR COVER STORY this month is about the threat of terrorism in the sky. The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security this month made its final recommendations to President Clinton.
Among the most controversial is the proposed use of automated passenger profiles to help keep would-be terrorists off commercial airliners.
Many of the proposals already are being implemented at the nation's airlines and airports.
Overall, the commission called for a major upgrade of Federal Aviation Administration safety and security measures in an effort to reduce the rate of airplane accidents by ""a factor of five'' in the next 10 years.
While the risk of dying in a plane crash remains low, a projection by Boeing Co. showed that unless the global accident rate is reduced, an airliner will crash somewhere on Earth nearly every week by 2015.
Mr. Gore said at the commission's final meeting that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will change its aviation programs to focus on safety research.
A cost estimate for implementing all of the committee's recommendations was not immediately available, but the commission did urge that cost not be the only basis for deciding whether to put new safety rules into effect.
Sometimes a safety rule should go ahead even when the benefits cannot be easily measured, the commissioners said.
Automated profiles, bomb-sniffing dogs and better training of security officers were among the commission's earlier recommendations.
Automated profiling involves using computers to, among other things, scan the travel history and possible criminal pasts of passengers to identify potential terrorists. Civil libertarians already are lining up in opposition to the plan.
THE FREE RIDE IS OVER. The House Ways and Means Committee, following the Senate Finance Committee, has passed a bill to reinstate a package of expired aviation taxes.
Money from the tax is used to pay for airport and air traffic control system improvements through the Airport and Airways Trust Fund. The bill extends through Sept. 30 a 10 percent tax on commercial airline tickets, a $6- a-ticket tax on international departures, a 6.25 percent tax on domestic air cargo and excise charges on noncommercial aviation fuel. These taxes bring roughly $20 million daily into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which finances airport modernization.
Several major airlines were hoping to replace the tax with user fees.
The law imposing the tax expired at the end of last year, and officials argue that the fund would shortly run out of money unless Congress acts.
Last week, the Treasury Department conceded it made an accounting error that effectively reduced the trust fund by $1.2 billion.
The bill gives the Treasury Department authority to transfer funds to fix the accounting problem.
Now if only you could fix your own tax errors that easily.
(snip)
Where did that "$1.2 billion" go?
I'm going to start a new thread on this. Hopefully the lamestream media will pick this up -- but I'm not gonna hold my breath! LOL
Thank you very much.
My writing partner did the research. I just batted cleanup on the writing!
Your kind words are most appreciated.
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