By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 6, 2004; 6:16 PM
Six air traffic controllers provided accounts of their communications
with hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, on a tape recording
that was later destroyed by Federal Aviation Administration
managers, according to a government investigative report issued
today.
It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one
ever listened to, transcribed or duplicated it, the report by
the Department of Transportation inspector general said.
The report concluded that the FAA generally cooperated with
the independent panel investigating the terrorist attacks by
providing documents about its activities on Sept. 11, but the
actions of two FAA managers "did not, in our view, serve
the interests of the FAA, the Department [of Transportation]
or the public."
The report was conducted at the request of Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) after the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks,
officially known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States, complained that the FAA had been less
than forthcoming in turning over documents and issued a subpoena
to the agency for more information.
The FAA said it was cooperating fully with the 9/11 panel.
The agency said it took disciplinary action against the employee
who destroyed the tape but declined to elaborate on what kind
of action they took. [Earlier, an FAA official incorrectly stated
that the agency took action against two employees in the case.]
"We believe the audiotape in question appears to be consistent
with written statements and other materials provided to FBI
investigators and would not have added in any significant way
to the information contained in what has already been provided
to investigators and members of the 9/11 commission," said
FAA spokesman Greg Martin.
Hours after the hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center
Towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, an FAA manager
at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center gathered six
controllers who communicated or tracked two of the hijacked
planes and recorded in a one-hour interview their personal accounts
of what occurred, the report stated.
The manager, who is not named in the report, said that his
intentions were to provide quick information to federal officials
investigating the attack before the air traffic controllers
involved took sick leave for the stress of their experiences,
as is common practice.
According to the report, a second manager at the New York center
promised a union official representing the controllers that
he would "get rid of" the tape after controllers used
it to provide written statements to federal officials about
the events of the day.
Instead, the second manager said he destroyed the tape between
December 2001 and January 2002 by crushing the tape with his
hand, cutting it into small pieces and depositing the pieces
into trash cans around the building, the report said.
The tape's existence was never made known to federal officials
investigating the attack, nor to FAA officials in Washington.
Staff members of the 9/11 panel found out about the tape during
interviews with some controllers who participated in the recording.
One controller said she asked to listen to the tape in order
to prepare her written account of her experience, but one of
the managers denied her request.
The New York managers acknowledged that they received an e-mail
from FAA officials instructing them to retain all materials
related to the Sept. 11 attacks. "If a question arises
whether or not you should retain the data, RETAIN IT,"
the report quoted the e-mail as saying.
But the managers decided not to include the tape in a November
2001 "Formal Accident Package" report the office prepared
because one manager said he did not want to break his word to
the union official and he did not think the tape should ever
have been made.
The inspector general concluded today that the managers' actions
resulted in the loss of potential evidence that would allow
the 9/11 commission to compare controllers' recollection of
the events immediately after the attacks with the written statements
prepared three weeks later.
"The destruction of evidence in the Government's possession,
in this case an audiotape -- particularly during times of national
crisis -- has the effect of fostering an appearance that information
is being withheld from the public."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
