Word: faa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...spot at the FAA is Administrator Alexander P. Butterfield, 48, a former Air Force colonel and F-111 pilot who joined President Richard Nixon's staff as an aide in 1969. In July 1973, Butterfield gave Watergate an entirely new dimension by disclosing the existence of the presidential tapes to members of Senator Sam Ervin's committee and the world. By that time, Butterfield had been head of the FAA for four months, a job he got as a reward for his efficient service in the White House (he was never brushed by Watergate), and was already struggling...
When it was set up in 1958, the FAA was an independent office with the power to act on its own. But in 1967 the agency was incorporated into the newly created Department of Transportation, which is geared more toward the problems of trains and automobiles than of airplanes. Butterfield has had trouble getting approval of a reorganization plan for his sizable operation-55,000 people and a budget of $1.5 billion-and he has even had problems filling key jobs. "I'm still frustrated over the inability to put the people I want where I want them," Butterfield...
...most serious charge against Butterfield is that the FAA has been slow to respond to the recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent agency that has the responsibility in the federal hierarchy of promoting safety in all modes of transportation. The NTSB has also taken over the job of investigating aircraft accidents from the Civil Aeronautics Board...
...million per year, paid for in part by a 34 cent surcharge on all airline tickets. In a constitutional sense, the cost has been equally high. Consider the case of John K. Muelner, who tried to board an airplane in Los Angeles during week one of what the FAA calls "100-per-cent-security." Muelner's appearance and manner matched the airline's "skyjacker profile" and he was searched with special care. Security agents found 76 grams of heroin and more than half a kilo of marijuana in his suitcase. In his pants pocket they discovered a vial of hashish...
...these "bonus" arrests were tried and convicted. There are no firm figures, but by reliable estimates, more than 80 per cent of arrests stemming from airport searches have nothing to do with aircraft security. The contraband seized in these cases is drugs and pornography, not guns and knives. (The FAA has now posted signs in the 531 U.S. commercial airports telling passengers of their right to avoid searches...