[Archangelsk]

Oh, gawd.

[George from New England]

In Libya this would get him an instant death sentence!

[swarthyguy]

Fuel for the fires.

Yes. What is the real story of, and events leading up to that day.

[muawiyah]

Appropriate disciplinary action would include formal beheading!

So why are they now claiming this dead person has some sort of right to privacy?

~ Oh! You mean we aren't done yet ~ we still have to investigate why the higher-ups haven't yet carried out the sentence.

[Archangelsk]

Ping to the list and hopefully you have the opportunity to see it where you are.

[Cicero]

Well. And this guy's name is not being released two and a half years after the incident because . . . ?

[grobdriver]

"I'm from the FAA and I'm here to help you".

Just another bureau-drone.

[HiJinx]

For privacy reasons, he said, he could not say what those actions were or identify the employees.

Off topic, I know, but we in the DoD have no problem releasing that information regarding the abusers at Abu Ghraib. Sheesh!

Back on topic...I have worked with sensitive taped material and have been on destruction detail more than once. We would pass a huge (5 pound) magnet over the audio tape, then pull it off the reel into a burn bag. The burn bag was then taken downstairs and the tape was machine shredded.

To me, what the QA Manager did - putting the cut segments in different waste baskets - was overkill. It is my gut feeling that he wasn't so much protecting the privacy of controllers as he was hiding something he overheard that he had no intention of letting out of the control center.

Just my 2 cents, as it were...

[Atlas Sneezed]

Source should be "NY Times", not "Times".

Excerpt?

[Hank Rearden]

And nothing will happen. Nobody will be fired. Nobody will resign. Nobody will be held accountable.

It's the government.

[Cicero]

Reading the previous replies, I am moved to comment that there are two questions here. The conduct of the FAA in general and the conduct of this particular guy. I'd be inclined to say that the FAA did very well, but this guy deserves to be strung up unless he has a very good excuse for his conduct.

[OldFriend]

Why am I not surprised that McCain's surfaces in this story.

[isom35]

"destroyed by an F.A.A. quality-assurance manager"...maybe the tapes themselves were of poor quality. I am positive it has nothing to do with the conspiracy notion that what was on the tape might not coincide with the official version.

[Aeronaut]

[swarthyguy]

Simple question. Why destroy it if you don't have something to hide.

Question is, was he ordered to, and if so, by whom.

Expect no answers.

[boxerblues]

The taping began before noon on Sept. 11 at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center

the planes had already crashed by this time and other where being grounded so what is the point of recording anything now?

[motzman]

The center manager had agreed with the president of the local union chapter, that the tapes would be destroyed once the standard written statements were obtained, the report said.

These union goons will be the death of us all...

[Blood of Tyrants]

it was later destroyed by an F.A.A. quality-assurance manager, who crushed the cassette in his hand, cut the tape into little pieces and dropped them in different trash cans around the building,

The quality-assurance manager told investigators that he had destroyed the tape because he thought making it was contrary to F.A.A. policy, which calls for written statements, and because he felt that the controllers "were not in the correct frame of mind to have properly consented to the taping" because of the stress of the day.

Lying piece of crap. He deliberately destroyed them because for some reason he wanted to make damned sure NO ONE would EVER listen to them.

[pabianice]

The FAA fat-asses cover their butts yet again.

[BillyCrockett]

"contemporaneous recordation"... only from guvmint people!

[Wurlitzer]

"Nonetheless, Mr. Martin said that "we have taken appropriate disciplinary action against the employees involved." For privacy reasons, he said, he could not say what those actions were or identify the employees. "

Who's privacy? You mean the person paid by US Taxpayers dollars? This is not their medical records or history of beating their wife. This person was on the US Taxpayer's payroll at the time.

Screw the people is the governments motto.