- Discovery In Mariani vs UAL Stayed
-
- A general court order entered in the U.S. District Court
in the Southern District of New York was just released by Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein subsequent to his July 12 hearing regarding Mariani vs. United
Airlines (UAL) et. al., amid indications of evidence tampering by officials
at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), represented in Hellerstein's
court by U.S. Attorneys from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
-
- At the time of the Government contacts with plaintiff-subpoenaed
evidence, the TSA and DOJ were not connected in any way to the New Hampshire
widow's private civil action. And no indications were revealed regarding
the extent of the interference in Mariani's court evidence, or whether
TSA or DOJ still retain any of Mariani's subpoenaed documents, as Judge
Hellerstein never broached the subject in the courtroom.
-
- As part of the just-filed court document, the Judge also
promulgated a, "provisional order granting the Government's motion
to intervene, for consolidation, and for a stay of discovery," while
also ordering that, "discovery....is hereby stayed until further order
of the Court."
-
- During court proceedings on July 12, the Judge had indicated
that he wanted discovery to start right away, saying, "Mrs. Mariani
has waited patiently since last December for her case to proceed."
But later in the proceedings, the Judge said that discovery would commence
after the September hearing - nine weeks later, as some heads in the courtroom
turned.
-
- John Greaves, Mariani's co-counsel, remarked outside
the courthouse that: "We are ready to go to discovery. Why is discovery
delayed?" The next hearing, scheduled for late September, will likely
preclude any substantial or possibly detrimental evidence revelations via
the discovery process until well after the November election.
-
- While consolidating civil actions against any airline
or security company for the purpose of pre-trial proceedings, importantly,
the Judge left open the possibility that his "provisional" order
in the "Consolidated Actions" could be, "amended upon application
to the court." Further, Hellerstein ordered lawyers for plaintiffs
and defendants to file their recommendations regarding the organization
of plaintiff committees [for discovery] by September 13.
-
- ******************
-
- Evidence Tampering
-
- In a June 20 letter to Judge Hellerstein from the DOJ
- obtained by American Free Press, [ "DOJ To Attempt Shutdown of 9/11
Evidence, by Tom Flocco," http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00087.htm
] Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Alter, TSA's Justice Department counsel,
wrote, "TSA is also aware that plaintiff's counsel recently issued
subpoenas to several non-parties, including Northwest Airlines, seeking
information about the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175," indicating
that Mariani's attorney had subpoenaed multiple sources to acquire case-connected
evidence.
-
- The names of other recipients of Mariani subpoenas -
contacted without a court order by TSA - were not revealed by Alter. And
the judge never asked him to divulge them in court.
-
- Alter had informed the Judge in the letter, "although
TSA has notified Northwest Airlines that documents responsive to this subpoena
may contain Sensitive Security Information (SSI), and therefore should
be submitted to TSA for review prior to any disclosure, plaintiff's uncoordinated
discovery activity illustrates a serious problem that must be addressed."
This, at a time when neither Alter, DOJ, nor the TSA had any connection
to Mariani's private case.
-
- During the hearing, Judge Hellerstein never mentioned
anything related to Alter's prior revelation in the letter, regarding TSA
contacts with Mariani's subpoena recipients; and Alter was not asked to
explain TSA's actions - or whether the court should sanction him (as the
representative of TSA and DOJ) for evidence tampering.
-
- And Alter was not questioned by Hellerstein about whether
he or his superiors at Attorney General Ashcroft's office had employed
government officials to contact previously subpoenaed entities related
to evidence involving a private civil action to which the Government was
not a party.
-
- Other individuals listed as submitting the letter to
Hellerstein in addition to Assistant U.S. Attorney Alter, included Robert
D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant AttorneyGeneral, Douglas Letter and Carolyn
A. McKee, U.S. Department of Justice, James B. Comey, U.S. Attorney, and
Alter's associate, Sarah S. Normand, Assistant U.S. Attorney.
-
- ******************
-
- Sensitive Security and National Security
-
- Mary Schiavo, lead counsel for widow Ellen Mariani, whose
husband Neil's United Airlines flight 175 jet was slammed into the South
Tower of the World Trade Center by terrorist hijackers on September 11,
2001, said that "the SSI category is very different than National
Security, where we are into top secret areas - a big difference."
[ "DOJ Loses 9/11 Evidence Control Attempt," by Tom Flocco, http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00097.htm]
-
- Brian Sullivan, former Special Agent for the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) New England Region told American Free Press
that, "the 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."
-
- The Judge's post-hearing order also ruled that, "counsel
for the Government shall file with the Court....recommendations regarding
proposed security procedures governing discovery involving protected Sensitive
Security Information."
-
- American Free Press has obtained an additional post-July
12 hearing letter to Hellerstein dated just five days later on July 17,
wherein Alter added a new wrinkle to prior requests made to the Court regarding
government intervention in the evidence-gathering process:
-
-
- "Although the Government sought consolidation of
the September 11 Tort Litigation solely to address discovery matters relating
to SSI, we believe from Your Honor's remarks that the Court may wish to
consolidate these actions for somewhat broader purposes. The language of
the proposed order therefore generally speaks of consolidation for the
purpose of pretrial proceedings."
-
- The July 17 letter showed indications that Alter may
motion for an amendment to Hellerstein's provisional order to request that
the judge permit the Government to also consolidate the evidence-gathering
via discovery after the pre-trial proceedings, revealing a more pronounced
attempt to better control or limit plaintiff access to any evidence that
DOJ and TSA deem to be "sensitive" security information.
-
- The second letter also revealed that DOJ was likely planning
to litigate discovery requests made by Mariani's attorneys, as Paul M.
Geier, Assistant General Counsel for Litigation, Department of Transportation
(DoT), and Carla J. Martin, Trial Attorney, DoT, were added to the team
of previously listed government attorneys from the June 20 letter. And
Alter had already said during the July 12 court hearing, that "I would
hope, Your Honor, that the Government will not have to litigate discovery
requests." [found by the Government to be "SSI"]
-
- FAA's Brian Sullivan had previously told AFP that, "the
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 'sensitive security.'
"
-
- ******************
-
- Bush's TSA Director Fired
-
- In a closely related story, the Director of the TSA,
John McGaw, was just fired on July 18 for incompetence, according to cable
news reports and the Denver Rocky Mountain News. (7-19-2002). The Bush-appointed
TSA Director lasted only six months on the job before being released from
his position.
-
- McGaw had been the highly controversial leader of the
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. (www.Scoop.co.nz, 7-11-2002)
-
- McGaw's recently hired but also controversial TSA Personnel
Security Chief John Holmes is still on the job, however. Holmes was reported
as having allowed individuals with criminal records and one felon to acquire
top-secret security clearances during his recent stint at the Commerce
Department. No Member of Congress has thus far questioned why Holmes occupies
his current position -- given current national security threats to the
country.
-
- And as the person in charge of hiring 30,000 new airline
baggage screeners, Holmes was described as "the last line of defense
against armed hijackers. You do the math." (WorldNetDaily.com, 4-24-2002)
Moreover, there were no indications in news reports that Holmes would also
be let go, or that the President is aware of Holmes' past record in light
of the current war against terrorism, and airport security risks in particular.
-
- ***********************
-
- Copyright (c) 2002 by Thomas Flocco. Used with permission.
-
- * - 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
-
- * - http://www.americanfreepress.net The Uncensored National
Weekly Newspaper Published On Capitol Hill. 1433 Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
Washington D.C.20003. Order Line: 1-888-699-6397 for print subscriptions
and other great original reported stories.
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