-------- Original Message --------
Subject: NORAD orders Web deletion of transcript
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 23:43:53 -0500
From: Richard Forno
To: Dave Farber
NORAD orders Web deletion of transcript
By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/NORAD+orders+Web+deletion+of+transcript/2100-1028_3-6048
254.html
Story last modified Thu Mar 09 19:07:01 PST 2006
In an unusual follow-up to a public event, the Defense Department and the
Transportation Security Administration have ordered that a transcript of an
open hearing on aviation restrictions be yanked from the Web.
Maj. Gen. M. Scott Mayes, the head of the North American air defense
command, ordered the internal review that flagged the hearing's transcript
as problematic and led to its deletion from a government Web site, CNET
News.com has learned.
The public hearing was held Jan. 18 at the Airport Marriott in Dulles, Va.,
and was discussed in local news reports. Its purpose was to ask for public
opinions about recent airspace security restrictions near the nation's
capital, which have cost local businesses some $45 million a year in lost
revenue and have even prompted some general aviation pilots to move
elsewhere.
One of the pilots who testified was Lt. Cmdr. Tom Bush, a U.S. Navy F-18
Hornet pilot who also flies a small civilian plane and said he was speaking
as a private individual. "Freedom and security are polar opposites, and I am
not willing to give up my freedom for the sake of terrorists," Bush said
during the hearing, according to a report at AviationNow.com.
The report also said Bush suggested the airspace restrictions were
irrational because a terrorist could pretend to fly through the Air Defense
Identification Zone (ADIZ) to nearby Dulles airport, make a right-hand turn
at the last minute, and be over downtown Washington, D.C., in four minutes.
The ADIZ is a ring stretching almost 40 miles around Washington, D.C.
"There may be some operational security concerns with the time line he laid
out," Michael Kucharek, the chief of media relations for the North American
Aerospace Defense Command, said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Kucharek said that "there were some operational security concerns revealed
by this person who had knowledge but appeared as a public citizen, which we
think was out of line. The disclosure of that information could go directly
to national security concerns."
The Bush administration has been criticized in the past by open government
advocates for its aggressive efforts to avoid the disclosure of information
that historically has been public. In 2003, the U.S. Army surreptitiously
pulled the plug on one of its more popular Web sites after a report
embarrassing to the military appeared on it. In another example, the names
of the members of the Defense Science Board--an obscure but influential
advisory body that influences military policy and had a budget of $3.6
million a year--have vanished from the group's public Web site.
The 369-page transcript of the event (part 1 and part 2), previously posted
on the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site, has been replaced with a
notice saying it is "presently unavailable."
Lt. Cmdr. Bush could not be reached for comment. One pilot who was at the
hearing reported that Bush said that Americans kicked out the British, tamed
the West, won two World Wars, put a man on the moon--and should start acting
like it.
Some pilots expressed skepticism that Bush disclosed anything sensitive and
suggested that the deletion was because he criticized the government's
security apparatus. Representatives from NORAD, TSA, FAA, the Department of
Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and Customs and Border Protection
were on the panel hearing testimony and remained silent during Bush's
testimony.
"The fact that TSA is an out of control dysfunctional agency is a given, so
it may be just another example of their ongoing buffoonery," wrote Lee
Schiek, the manager of Maryland's College Park Airport, in an e-mail message
on Thursday. "On the other hand, this could be an attempt to rewrite history
to minimize the public record sentiment regarding the ADIZ. In any event,
since its inception, TSA has consistently demonstrated their inability to do
the right thing, and this latest example should not go unchallenged."
The ADIZ is opposed by general aviation pilots--that is, pilots who fly
smaller aircraft such as a Cessna, Mooney or Piper--because it imposes
strict security rules that increase bureaucracy and can overload air traffic
controllers.
It was created as a supposedly temporary measure after Sept. 11, 2001, but
the Bush administration has suggested that it become permanent. Over 21,300
comments, almost entirely critical of the ADIZ, were filed in the FAA
proceeding that led to January's public hearing in Virginia.
Many comments said that a terrorist could easily defeat the purpose of the
ADIZ by filing the paperwork, talking to air traffic controllers, and then
turning toward Washington, D.C. at the last moment. Others said it was odd
to worry about general aviation aircraft that typically have two to six
seats and can carry less than most SUVs.
The FAA said Thursday the transcript might be restored soon. It is being
reviewed "and no final decisions have been made," FAA spokeswoman Laura
Brown said. "I think that you'll see virtually all of that reposted fairly
quickly."
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