U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WASHINGTON, DC 20515

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, June 2, 2003

Contacts:

Jim Berard (Oberstar) 202-225-6260

Jennie McCue (Turner) 202-225-2401

 

 

 

Top Democrats on House Transportation, Homeland Security Committees Ask DOT

To Review Flight Information Rules

 

DeLay Request to Find Texas Plane Spurs Letter

 

==============================

 

WASHINGTON—The ranking Democrats on two powerful House committees with jurisdiction over transportation security have asked the Department of Transportation to review its policies on releasing information regarding flights by private aircraft.

 

Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.), Ranking Democratic Member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Rep. Jim Turner (Tex.), Ranking Democratic Member on the new Select Committee on Homeland Security, made the request in a letter sent today to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. The Secretary has ordered a review of whether the Federal Aviation Administration acted properly when it helped House Majority Leader Tom DeLay search for the plane of a Texas Democrat involved in the state’s redistricting dispute.

 

The letter expresses concern about reports that the Department of Transportation routinely makes information about the flight of private aircraft available to the public.  Oberstar and Turner question whether making flight information readily available to anyone who requests it is the right policy in these times of heightened danger from terrorist attack.

 

“It is not difficult to imagine scenarios in which a terrorist could use information about the flight patterns of private aircraft to plan or execute an attack,” the letter reads.

 

The letter poses several questions regarding the FAA’s policies on such information, including whether an individual aircraft operator can ask to have flight information withheld from the public, or if any controls are in place to determine how such information will be used before it is made available to a requestor.

 

The text of the letter follows:

 

 

The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta

Secretary of Transportation

U.S. Department of Transportation

400 Seventh Street, S.W.

Washington, DC  20590

 

Dear Mr. Secretary:

 

We welcome you ordering a review of whether Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials acted appropriately when they provided assistance to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay in finding an aircraft belonging to former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Pete Laney during recent disputes involving the Texas State Legislature.

 

A recent press report on the subject quotes a Department of Transportation spokesperson as stating that information on when a private aircraft took off and landed “can routinely be made available.”  C. Lee and D. Phillips, Agencies Review Roles in Hunt for Tex. Lawmakers in Walkout, Wash. Post, May 24, 2003, at A2.  If this statement is indeed correct, we are concerned about the homeland security implications of a policy that “routinely” makes information about the flight pattern of private aircraft available to the public.  It is not difficult to imagine scenarios in which a terrorist could use such information to plan or execute an attack. 

 

As Ranking Members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Select Committee on Homeland Security, we want to review the FAA’s policy on public dissemination of this information.  Specifically, please provide us with answers to the following questions:

 

Ø           What information does the FAA provide, directly to the public or to commercial websites that may be accessed by the public, about the airports at which a private aircraft takes off and lands, and the location of a private aircraft during a flight?

 

Ø           Are the operators of private aircraft given the right to have the foregoing information withheld from public disclosure?  If so, how are operators made aware of this right?

 

Ø           Are any inquiries made, by the FAA or by commercial websites, prior to release of this information to ensure that the information is not being used for illicit purposes?

 

Ø           What level employee is authorized to release such information?

 

Ø           How does this policy on public dissemination of information incorporate the Department of Homeland Security’s assessment of the current threat against U.S. interests?

 

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and request a response by June 9.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jim Turner                                                                          James L. Oberstar

Ranking Democratic Member                                             Ranking Democratic Member

Select Committee on Homeland Security                             Committee on Transportation

                                                                                               and Infrastructure

 

                                                                                                               

###