- On June 20, Bush Administration officials quietly informed
a New York judge of their intention to commence legal actions likely to
be far-reaching in their constitutional, political, and individual rights
implications pertaining to current lawsuits and government secrecy related
to the attacks on September 11, 2001. The moves were revealed in a letter
obtained from a confidential source, with two other sources corroborating
its existence, adding additional information.
-
- U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division
Robert D. McCallum, Jr. and United States Attorney for the Southern District
of New York James B. Comey advised U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein,
also of the Southern District of New York, that the Department of Justice
(DOJ) will intervene to control access to all evidence and documents related
to all private litigation before Hellersteinís court regarding the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 -- citing ìgrave national
security concernsî as their motivation.
-
- The McCallum and Comey correspondence advised Judge Hellerstein
of their intention to ìseek [court] entry of a global discovery
order [effectively controlling evidence obtained from any country], "requiring
that 1) ìTransportation Security Administration (TSA) be served
with [have prior access to] all requests for party and non-party discovery,"
2) "defendants and non-parties submit all proposed discovery responses
that may contain ësensitive security information" (SSI) to the
TSA prior to releasing such material to plaintiffs," and 3) ìTSA
have the necessary opportunity to review such material and to withhold
'sensitive security information' " [from victim-family attorneys].
-
- One victim family plaintiff -- speaking off the record
-- told Scoop Media that family members and their attorneys have not yet
sought internal memos, electronic mail, facsimiles, and documents which
would shed public light upon what had to be extraordinary legal maneuverings.
However, added high stakes related to the publicly undisclosed contents
of the controversial August 6, 2001 Presidential intelligence briefing
prior to the attacks, and a secret July, 2001 FBI memo -- said to be "50
times more significant than the August 6 briefing," by a Congressional
investigator (New York Times, 5-18-2002), will only serve to heighten the
importance of the June 20 letter.
-
- The victim family source complained to Scoop Media that
"now the White House is trying to control or block the evidence we
need to prove our negligence cases in court." The source then added
that offices of United Airlines defense firm Mayer-Brown and lead attorney
Michael Feagley, TSA, Bush Attorney General John Ashcroftís Justice
Department, Judge Hellersteinís District Court, and the White House
Counselís office were all likely involved in the legal machinations.
-
- The resumes of TSA Director, John McGaw, and his personnel
security chief, David Holmes, are already controversial enough to draw
probing questions on many fronts; but plaintiff attorneys for the victim
families may find the Administration's TSA appointee attempts to exert
government control over their clients' private cases to be the proverbial
last straw.
-
- The DOJ letter to Judge Hellerstein reveals that Bush
Administration officials at TSA have also been contacting witnesses already
subpoenaed by attorneys for the plaintiff families, telling them that they
should send all Plaintiff-subpoenaed evidence and documents to the TSA
for initial inspection, prior to directly cooperating with family plaintiff
attorneys and Judge Hellerstein's Court in New York. Thus, constitutional
questions arise as to why the New York District Court is permitting Bush
Administration bureaucratic appointees to tamper with witnesses and evidence
in the private civil actions of American citizens.
-
- Some 33 families have already chosen to forego financial
awards from the congressionally authorized victim compensation fund in
favor of seeking justice and accountability. Their lawsuits are attempting
to recover damages for negligence, ticket contract safeguards, and failure
to prevent the attacks, even as more evidence regarding prior knowledge
of the terrorism recently leaked out from Capitol Hill -- from congressmen
and senators themselves.
-
- The letter also disclosed that Ashcroftís Office
will push for ìthe appointment of lead counsel,î effectively
exerting a consolidated supervisory role over all victim family attorneys,
while seeking ìadoption of uniform [similarly controlled] discovery
requests to streamline litigation, reduce costs for all parties and conserve
judicial resources.î
-
- Informed sources close to the case told Scoop Media that
actions brought by the Justice Department will dilute and trivialize the
more clear-cut and important cases which seek answers to many of the questions
related to security, negligence, and prior knowledge of the attacks.
-
- Moreover, the legal moves will be seen by some to help
Bush attorneys shut down and cut off victim family access to important
government documents which would likely lead to the accountability and
justice their attorneys have sought through litigation. This, while other
victim families watch -- deciding whether or not to introduce their own
civil actions against airline companies or other government entities.
-
- RESPONSIBLE ACTIVISM
-
- Some of the unknowing victim family members soon to be
affected by imminent but discreet Justice Department legal action [which
literally assumes total control over evidence gathering, depositions, testimony,
and government reports] were at the Capitol just last month on June 10
and 11 to attend events related to calls for open September 11 probes.
-
- Some family members attended a Monday National Press
Club media conference sponsored by the 9/11 investigative organization
UnansweredQuestions.org, an independent, non-partisan online community
of concerned citizens, researchers, independent investigators, and journalists
asking and exploring the unanswered questions of September 11. Believing
in transparency, the groupís panel members told gathered TV, radio,
and print media attendees that good questions lead to answers and solutions.
-
- On Tuesday, busloads of 9/11 victim families descended
on Capitol Hill to voice their concerns at a rally also attended by more
media and some congressmen and senators. The families were pleading for
open, aggressive, and complete investigations in Congress, but also for
a truly independent, non-partisan investigative commission with lawyers
and serious researchers totally in concert with the familiesí goals
of justice and accountability. Meanwhile, Bush attorneys were moving to
take control over needed evidence for their civil actions against the airlines.
-
- BUSH LAWYERS THREATEN VICTIM PLAINTIFFS
-
- Curious indications of additional Administration political
machinations linked to Special Master Kenneth Feinberg and the September
11th Victim Compensation Fund were also revealed in Justiceís letter
to Hellersteinís court: ìThe Government has been advised
that the Court is developing a procedure by which all Plaintiffs in the
September 11 Tort Litigation must formally acknowledge the ramifications
of pursuing a lawsuit rather than filing a claim with [the Fund].î
-
- This action will permit Feinberg to force families to
listen to his attempts to convince them to give up their lawsuits -- accepting
his reduced financial offers, instead of taking their chances for fair
compensation in court, but also for justice and accountability. However,
Feinberg might be losing his battle, as only 10 families out of 3,200 have
thus far completed applications permitting him to determine their financial
futures, rather than a judge and jury, according to wide press reports.
-
- DOJ lawyers McCallum and Comey further advised Judge
Hellerstein that ìIn making their election, plaintiffs should be
fully informed of the risks that accompany litigation.î However,
the Administration added that the ìTSAís vigorous enforcement
of the rules governing non-disclosure of sensitive security information
may present significant litigation consequences for all plaintiffs, and
the Government respectfully requests that the Court include a statement
to this effect in any finalized protocol,î-- clearly the letterís
most controversial statement.
-
- Some might consider the Administrationís statement
a veiled threat, warning that any victim family continuing with or thinking
about suing either the airlines, security firms, or other government entities
would likely lose any civil action because the Government is going to take
complete control of their access to the very evidence needed to prove their
cases in court.
-
- Moreover, these and other statements in the Justice Departmentís
correspondence to Hellerstein could well test the legal ire of many of
the families -- given the staggering individual, legal, and constitutional
implications.
-
- ìCONSOLIDATINGî THE CONTROL
-
- Constitutional separation of powers notwithstanding,
the Executive Branch is also attempting additional circumnavigation of
treacherous legal waters that some might consider blatant usurpation of
judicial branch authority in order to control access to evidence in legitimate
private lawsuits.
-
- The Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Attorney advised
that ìthe Government will seek to intervene in these cases, and
will move to implement a consolidated litigation plan that would enable
TSA to enforce both statutory and regulatory aviation safety measures effectively
and efficiently.î
-
- On the heels of its strict enforcement intentions, Ashcroftís
Office requested ìthat the Court -- on its own motion [acting by
itself] -- stay [suspend] all discovery in the September 11 Tort Litigation
pending the July conference.î McCallum and Comey then asked the Judge
to ìpermit the Government to address these and other issues at the
upcoming July status conference,î -- taking the unprecedented action
of halting legal evidence discovery in all September 11 tort litigation.
The undisclosed victim litigant told Scoop Media that the conference will
be held on Friday.
-
- DOJ USING SSI TO CLOAK TSA AND FAA NEGLIGENCE IN USA
-
- Bush Administration lawyers at Attorney General Ashcroftís
Department of Justice (DOJ) may be employing legerdemain in their efforts
to suppress useful court evidence, adding that ìCongress charged
TSA with prohibiting the disclosure of SSI, an entire category of information
relating to transportation security.î
-
- They also said that [the Under Secretary of Transportation
for Security] ìshall prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure
of information obtained or developed in carrying out security or research
and development activitiesî the release of which would ìbe
detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation.î Justice
lawyers then said that ìSSI includes, but is not limited to, any
approved, accepted, or standard security program; Security Directives and
Information Circulars; any selection criteria used in any security screening
process; and any security contingency plan.î
-
- Brian Sullivan, former Special Agent for the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) New England Region, pointed out to Scoop
Media in an interview that ìthe purpose of protecting information
should be in the interests of defending national security. SSI should not
be used as a shield to hide FAA and TSA negligence and incompetence.î
-
- Sullivan added that ìthe intent of the SSI designation
was not to hide the ineptitude of the failed FAA civil aviation security
apparatus; nor was it intended to preclude legitimate legal inquiry, as
government lawyers carry out White House orders to cloak bureaucratic incompetence
in a blanket of ësensitive security.í î
-
- THE PRESIDENT'S PROTECTORS OF AIRPORT INSECURITY
-
- Victim families will be relieved to know that the recent
Bush-appointed protector of the nationís airport security, TSA Director
John McGaw, is a 26-year Secret Service veteran. What the families wonít
want to know is that wide reports cite McGaw as spearheading the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) investigations into the 1995 Oklahoma
City bombing, the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, the bombing at the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, and the national church-arson task force -- packing
enough controversy into a couple years to last a couple lifetimes.
-
- McGaw was also criticized by Senator Arlen Specter at
a recent Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing for defending the
actions of BATF agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where the government paid
Randy Weaver $3.5 million because the agents killed his wife and son in
the altercation.
-
- And notwithstanding Bush appointee McGawís controversial
and questionable new power to ìprescribe regulations prohibiting
disclosure of informationî [controlling evidence] and ìsecurity
or research and development activitiesî at the nationís airports,
his newly-recruited TSA personnel security chief David Holmes may be Americaís
worst security nightmare.
-
- Former Commerce Department colleagues charge that, as
favors for politicians and friends, ìDavid Holmes signed off on
Commerce applicants with criminal or other derogatory information in their
background files. One felon even got Top Secret clearance,î according
to WorldNetDaily.com. (4-24-2002)
-
- WorldNetDaily added that a senior Commerce official said
ìTSA is under enormous pressure to meet that Nov.19 deadline [for
hiring 30,000 new baggage screeners].î He then added: ìAnd
then you have a guy, whoís already predisposed to looking the other
way, making critical decisions on the people who are essentially our last
line of defense against armed hijackers. You do the math.î
-
- SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER
-
- At this point, not knowing whether to laugh or cry over
such bumbling incompetence -- or worse, victim families and their attorneys
will now watch Bush Administration lawyers madly shuffling legal paperwork
over to the Southern District of New York, using every desperate and unprecedented
creative legal theory available in an attempt to steal their constitutionally-given
right to a fair civil trial in front of a jury of American citizens.
-
- The Ashcroft lawyers will try to pull it off by smothering
access to critical evidence required to win victim family cases, even as
some are forced to listen to their Special Master Kenneth Feinberg reiterate
the Justice Departmentís coming threats to their previously filed
litigation.
-
- The letter Americans were not supposed to know about
tells it all. And implications for the U.S. rule of law will be seen by
many as truly astonishing. However, Fall elections will reveal whether
Americans will tolerate what one 9/11 victim plaintiff told Scoop Media
is nothing more than ìslick government shenanigans."
-
- Grieving families, on the whole, are still emotionally
unable to demand that Judge Hellerstein allow their attorneys the right
of legitimate legal inquiry and discovery of evidence. It will likely take
righteous outrage and responsible citizen activism to halt taxpayer-funded
DOJ lawyers attempting to innovatively cloak what many will describe as
inside-the-beltway negligence, ineptitude, and abuse of power by Bush Administration
appointees at TSA.
-
- Moreover, the anguished victim litigants, their first-rate
attorneys, and other potential 9/11 plaintiff families closely watching
the lawsuits already filed, may now have to rethink their strategy: It
just might take a coterie of constitutional attorneys to prevent the Administrationís
impending assaults upon the Constitutionís separation of powers.
-
- This, while having waited nine months for sequestered
congressional hearings to commence behind closed doors in a sound-proof
room at the Capitol -- to all intents and purposes, placing a 9/11 evidence
blackout via a) the Legislative Branchís secret, soft, and un-aggressive
ìhearings,î and b) the Executive Branchís legal lapdogs
snapping at the heels of justice, fairness, and God-given rights. How sad
for the country that such are the ìleadersî placed in power
by the citizenry -- corrupt and unresponsive. But Americans get to vote
again in November. ___
-
- Tom Flocco is an independent American investigative journalist,
having previously written for Scoop.co.nz, AmericanFreePress.net. WorldNetDaily.com,
FromTheWilderness.com, NewsMax.com, NarcoNews.com, and JudicialWatch.org.
Contact: TomFlocco@cs.com -
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