Justice Department seeks to restrict records in Sept. 11 wrongful-death suits

By The Associated Press

07.12.02

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NEW YORK — The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to let it screen pretrial information in all Sept. 11 injury and death lawsuits against airlines — the latest in a series of government efforts to restrict information connected to terror cases.

At a hearing today, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Manhattan is to consider the request contained in a letter from Assistant Attorney General Robert D. McCallum Jr. and U.S. Attorney James B. Comey.

In the letter, the government asks Hellerstein to consolidate the cases and let it decide what information can be released by the airlines and what to withhold as "security(-)sensitive information."

The move follows other efforts by the Justice Department to limit public access to information related to the Sept. 11 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

An Associated Press request for transcripts of interviews with New York City Fire Department members, filed under New York's Freedom of Information Law, was denied in part at the behest of the Justice Department.

Mary Schiavo, a Los Angeles attorney whose firm represents families in eight of the pending airline cases, called the department's attempt to intervene "highly unusual and rather inappropriate."

Schiavo said federal information restrictions would be honored by plaintiffs, but added, "the things we're seeking are going to be highly embarrassing for the airlines and the government," Schiavo said, "and embarrassing information is not necessarily ... security sensitive information."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office had no additional comment.

Hellerstein is handling lawsuits connected to the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Ten wrongful-death suits against United Airlines and American Airlines are pending, alleging that lax security and other lapses by the airlines resulted in the hijackings of four jets used in the attacks.

In pretrial discovery, plaintiffs' attorneys have sought records including Federal Aviation Administration-approved security programs at both airlines, FAA weapons security test reports, departure security protocols and any alerts the FAA may have issued in the months prior to Sept. 11. They have also sought information from other airlines about the alleged hijackers.

The airlines are prohibited from disclosing information deemed "security sensitive" except to those with an "operational 'need to know,'" the government said in its letter to the judge last month.

In calling on the judge to let the government intervene, the prosecutor said "the possibility that a haphazard discovery process could result in the unauthorized release of security sensitive information creates an unacceptable risk to the traveling public and to the national security."

The AP in January requested transcripts of interviews conducted by the FDNY with department members of the rank of lieutenant and higher about their experiences, statements, orders and actions at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

The department recently denied the request, saying Comey's office "has requested that the Fire Department not disclose these interviews because the prosecution intends to utilize them in both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted in connection with the attacks. "

"Moreover, the U.S. Attorney's Office has informed the City of New York that it intends to produce the transcripts in toto as discovery materials to the defense" in its prosecution of Moussaoui, said the letter, signed by FDNY assistant counsel Alexandra Fisher.

Fisher said a court order in the Moussaoui case prohibited the government from disseminating any discovery materials to the media.

Fisher also said some of the materials constituted intra-agency records not covered by the FOI law, and that disclosure of portions of records "would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

In another case, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has cited similar grounds in restricting access to a tape recording of radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

The Port Authority said public disclosure of the tape could violate the court order in the Moussaoui case.

Related

USA TODAY seeks cockpit recordings in Moussaoui case
Federal judge says newspaper's request is premature because she hasn't decided whether to allow the government to use the tapes.  08.21.02