Airline Safety Commission Members Named

August 15, 1996

THE DAILY FED

Airline Safety Commission Members Named

Vice President Al Gore has named CIA Director John Deutch, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena to a commission to review airline safety in the wake of the TWA Flight 800 crash last month, the Associated Press reports.

The commission was established by President Clinton on July 25, one week after the fiery crash of the Paris-bound airliner killed all 230 persons aboard.

The panel, chaired by Gore, will make recommendations on airport and airline security, including new airport technologies, and report its findings to the President by early September. The panel will also examine modernization of the air-traffic control system and oversight of aviation safety.

"Sometimes, government must step back and ask itself, 'Is there a better way to do this?'" Gore said, according to the AP. "It is clearly time to ask that question and re-evaluate the way the federal government oversees aviation safety and security."

Others named by Gore to the panel include former Transportation Secretary William Coleman; Victoria Cummock, representing the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 crash; National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall and John Michael Loh, former head of the Air Force's Air Combat Command.

Additional members are expected to be appointed after the commission makes its initial report.