The McCallum and Comey correspondence advised Judge
Hellerstein of their intention to ìseek [court]
entry of a global discovery order [effectively controlling
evidence obtained from any country], "requiring
that 1) ìTransportation Security Administration (TSA) be
served with [have prior access to] all requests for
party and non-party discovery," 2) "defendants and
non-parties submit all proposed discovery responses
that may contain ësensitive security information" (SSI) to
the TSA prior to releasing such material to
plaintiffs," and 3) ìTSA have the necessary opportunity to
review such material and to withhold 'sensitive
security information' " [from victim-family attorneys].

One victim family plaintiff -- speaking off the record --
told Scoop Media that family members and their
attorneys have not yet sought internal memos, electronic
mail, facsimiles, and documents which would shed
public light upon what had to be extraordinary legal
maneuverings. However, added high stakes related to
the publicly undisclosed contents of the controversial
August 6, 2001 Presidential intelligence briefing prior
to the attacks, and a secret July, 2001 FBI memo -- said to
be "50 times more significant than the August 6
briefing," by a Congressional investigator (New York Times,
5-18-2002), will only serve to heighten the
importance of the June 20 letter.

The victim family source complained to Scoop Media that
"now the White House is trying to control or
block the evidence we need to prove our negligence cases in
court." The source then added that offices of
United Airlines defense firm Mayer-Brown and lead attorney
Michael Feagley, TSA, Bush Attorney General
John Ashcroftís Justice Department, Judge Hellersteinís
District Court, and the White House Counselís
office were all likely involved in the legal machinations.

The resumes of TSA Director, John McGaw, and his personnel
security chief, David Holmes, are already
controversial enough to draw probing questions on many
fronts; but plaintiff attorneys for the victim
families may find the Administration's TSA appointee
attempts to exert government control over their
clients' private cases to be the proverbial last straw.

The DOJ letter to Judge Hellerstein reveals that Bush
Administration officials at TSA have also been
contacting witnesses already subpoenaed by attorneys for
the plaintiff families, telling them that they should
send all Plaintiff-subpoenaed evidence and documents to the
TSA for initial inspection, prior to directly
cooperating with family plaintiff attorneys and Judge
Hellerstein's Court in New York. Thus, constitutional
questions arise as to why the New York District Court is
permitting Bush Administration bureaucratic
appointees to tamper with witnesses and evidence in the
private civil actions of American citizens.

Some 33 families have already chosen to forego financial
awards from the congressionally authorized victim
compensation fund in favor of seeking justice and
accountability. Their lawsuits are attempting to recover
damages for negligence, ticket contract safeguards, and
failure to prevent the attacks, even as more evidence
regarding prior knowledge of the terrorism recently leaked
out from Capitol Hill -- from congressmen and
senators themselves.

The letter also disclosed that Ashcroftís Office will push
for ìthe appointment of lead counsel,î effectively
exerting a consolidated supervisory role over all victim
family attorneys, while seeking ìadoption of uniform
[similarly controlled] discovery requests to streamline
litigation, reduce costs for all parties and conserve
judicial resources.î

Informed sources close to the case told Scoop Media that
actions brought by the Justice Department will
dilute and trivialize the more clear-cut and important
cases which seek answers to many of the questions
related to security, negligence, and prior knowledge of the
attacks.

Moreover, the legal moves will be seen by some to help Bush
attorneys shut down and cut off victim family
access to important government documents which would likely
lead to the accountability and justice their
attorneys have sought through litigation. This, while other
victim families watch -- deciding whether or not
to introduce their own civil actions against airline
companies or other government entities.

RESPONSIBLE ACTIVISM

Some of the unknowing victim family members soon to be
affected by imminent but discreet Justice
Department legal action [which literally assumes total
control over evidence gathering, depositions,
testimony, and government reports] were at the Capitol just
last month on June 10 and 11 to attend events
related to calls for open September 11 probes.

Some family members attended a Monday National Press Club
media conference sponsored by the 9/11
investigative organization UnansweredQuestions.org, an
independent, non-partisan online community of
concerned citizens, researchers, independent investigators,
and journalists asking and exploring the
unanswered questions of September 11. Believing in
transparency, the groupís panel members told gathered
TV, radio, and print media attendees that good questions
lead to answers and solutions.

On Tuesday, busloads of 9/11 victim families descended on
Capitol Hill to voice their concerns at a rally also
attended by more media and some congressmen and senators.
The families were pleading for open,
aggressive, and complete investigations in Congress, but
also for a truly independent, non-partisan
investigative commission with lawyers and serious
researchers totally in concert with the familiesí goals of
justice and accountability. Meanwhile, Bush attorneys were
moving to take control over needed evidence
for their civil actions against the airlines.
BUSH LAWYERS THREATEN VICTIM PLAINTIFFS

Curious indications of additional Administration political
machinations linked to Special Master Kenneth
Feinberg and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
were also revealed in Justiceís letter to
Hellersteinís court: ìThe Government has been advised that
the Court is developing a procedure by which
all Plaintiffs in the September 11 Tort Litigation must
formally acknowledge the ramifications of pursuing a
lawsuit rather than filing a claim with [the Fund].î

This action will permit Feinberg to force families to
listen to his attempts to convince them to give up their
lawsuits -- accepting his reduced financial offers, instead
of taking their chances for fair compensation in
court, but also for justice and accountability. However,
Feinberg might be losing his battle, as only 10
families out of 3,200 have thus far completed applications
permitting him to determine their financial
futures, rather than a judge and jury, according to wide
press reports.

DOJ lawyers McCallum and Comey further advised Judge
Hellerstein that ìIn making their election,
plaintiffs should be fully informed of the risks that
accompany litigation.î However, the Administration
added that the ìTSAís vigorous enforcement of the rules
governing non-disclosure of sensitive security
information may present significant litigation consequences
for all plaintiffs, and the Government respectfully
requests that the Court include a statement to this effect
in any finalized protocol,î-- clearly the letterís most
controversial statement.

Some might consider the Administrationís statement a veiled
threat, warning that any victim family
continuing with or thinking about suing either the
airlines, security firms, or other government entities
would likely lose any civil action because the Government
is going to take complete control of their access
to the very evidence needed to prove their cases in court.

Moreover, these and other statements in the Justice
Departmentís correspondence to Hellerstein could well
test the legal ire of many of the families -- given the
staggering individual, legal, and constitutional
implications.

ìCONSOLIDATINGî THE CONTROL

Constitutional separation of powers notwithstanding, the
Executive Branch is also attempting additional
circumnavigation of treacherous legal waters that some
might consider blatant usurpation of judicial branch
authority in order to control access to evidence in
legitimate private lawsuits.

The Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Attorney advised
that the Government will seek to intervene in
these cases, and will move to implement a consolidated
litigation plan that would enable TSA to enforce
both statutory and regulatory aviation safety measures
effectively and efficiently.î

On the heels of its strict enforcement intentions,
Ashcroftís Office requested ìthat the Court -- on its own
motion [acting by itself] -- stay [suspend] all discovery
in the September 11 Tort Litigation pending the July
conference.î McCallum and Comey then asked the Judge to
ìpermit the Government to address these and
other issues at the upcoming July status conference,î --
taking the unprecedented action of halting legal
evidence discovery in all September 11 tort litigation. The
undisclosed victim litigant told Scoop Media that
the conference will be held on Friday.

DOJ USING SSI TO CLOAK TSA AND FAA NEGLIGENCE IN USA

Bush Administration lawyers at Attorney General Ashcroftís
Department of Justice (DOJ) may be
employing legerdemain in their efforts to suppress useful
court evidence, adding that ìCongress charged
TSA with prohibiting the disclosure of SSI, an entire
category of information relating to transportation
security.î

They also said that [the Under Secretary of Transportation
for Security] ìshall prescribe regulations
prohibiting disclosure of information obtained or developed
in carrying out security or research and
development activitiesî the release of which would ìbe
detrimental to the safety of passengers in
transportation.î Justice lawyers then said that ìSSI
includes, but is not limited to, any approved, accepted, or
standard security program; Security Directives and
Information Circulars; any selection criteria used in any
security screening process; and any security contingency
plan.î

Brian Sullivan, former Special Agent for the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) New England Region,
pointed out to Scoop Media in an interview that ìthe
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.î

Sullivan added that ìthe 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 ësensitive security.í î
THE PRESIDENT'S PROTECTORS OF AIRPORT INSECURITY

Victim families will be relieved to know that the recent
Bush-appointed protector of the nationís airport
security, TSA Director John McGaw, is a 26-year Secret
Service veteran. What the families wonít want to
know is that wide reports cite McGaw as spearheading the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
(BATF) 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 -- packing enough
controversy into a couple years to last a couple lifetimes.

McGaw was also criticized by Senator Arlen Specter at a
recent Senate Commerce Committee confirmation
hearing for defending the actions of BATF agents at Ruby
Ridge, Idaho, where the government paid Randy
Weaver $3.5 million because the agents killed his wife and
son in the altercation.

And notwithstanding Bush appointee McGawís controversial
and questionable new power to ìprescribe
regulations prohibiting disclosure of informationî
[controlling evidence] and ìsecurity or research and
development activitiesî at the nationís airports, his
newly-recruited TSA personnel security chief David
Holmes may be Americaís worst security nightmare.

Former Commerce Department colleagues charge that, as
favors for politicians and friends, ìDavid Holmes
signed off on Commerce applicants with criminal or other
derogatory information in their background files.
One felon even got Top Secret clearance,î according to
WorldNetDaily.com. (4-24-2002)

WorldNetDaily added that a senior Commerce official said
ìTSA is under enormous pressure to meet that
Nov.19 deadline [for hiring 30,000 new baggage screeners].î
He then added: ìAnd then you have a guy,
whoís already predisposed to looking the other way, making
critical decisions on the people who are
essentially our last line of defense against armed
hijackers. You do the math.î

SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER

At this point, not knowing whether to laugh or cry over
such bumbling incompetence -- or worse, victim
families and their attorneys will now watch Bush
Administration lawyers madly shuffling legal paperwork
over to the Southern District of New York, using every
desperate and unprecedented creative legal theory
available in an attempt to steal their
constitutionally-given right to a fair civil trial in front of a jury of

American citizens.

The Ashcroft lawyers will try to pull it off by smothering
access to critical evidence required to win victim
family cases, even as some are forced to listen to their
Special Master Kenneth Feinberg reiterate the Justice
Departmentís coming threats to their previously filed
litigation.