Open Letter To The FBI Re: TW800/VJ592/BOMBTHREAT
cli...@cari.net
This letter is posted on the Valujet Flight 592 Memorial website at...
http://www.flight592.com/Flight592Discussion-Current/_disc5/000000cb.htm
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Open Letter To The FBI Re: TW800/VJ592/BOMBTHREAT
From: James A. Bergquist (cli...@inetworld.net)
Date: 18 Jan 1998
Time: 23:19:40
Remote Name: 207.211.99.138
January 18, 1998
Louis J. Freeh
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Freeh:
My name is James Bergquist. I was an FAA Air Traffic Controller and
head of our union in San Diego. I represent five other FAA/DOTIG/NTSB
whistleblowers.
I was looking at the TW800 section of the FBI's website at www.fbi.gov
and at the end of the page read the following:
________________________________________ CLOSING REMARKS
-The investigation I just described to you was done primarily by the
men and women of the Terrorism Task Force here in New York augmented
by many FBI Agents from other segments of this office and the United
States and by investigators from law enforcement agencies not
officially part of the Joint Terrorist Task Force.
-They are all professionals and take pride in the thoroughness of
their investigations.
-Aside from the families of the victims of TWA 800, no other group of
people was more eager to find an answer.
-As the law enforcement team steps from this investigation, I want to
emphasize that we will maintain our lines of communication with the
NTSB - we will maintain our ability to gear up our criminal
investigation should any information ever come to light which would
indicate that a criminal act was committed.
_______________________________________
I recalled that the Deputy Director of the FBI, Mr. James Kallstrom,
had taken to the airwaves asking the American People for assistance
with the investigation and told us the the FBI would follow up on all
leads. Later, when he announced that the FBI was dropping their
investigation, Mr. Kallstrom informed us that no stone had been left
unturned in the FBI's investigation.
I have a problem with this. We sent Mr. Kallstrom a certified letter
and on three occasions he refused to sign for it. On 1/9, 1/22, and
again on 1/31/97, the letter was refused.
You can see an image of the envelope which clearly shows these
refusals to except the letter at:
http://members.aol.com/papcecst/index.html
This also brings another thought to mind. What if a terrorist group
wanted to confess their complicity in the crime, how would they get
through to the FBI?
This is not the first time that the FBI has ignored matters of
aviation safety and governmental corruption by the FAA, the DOTIG, and
the NTSB.
On 11/3/96, I sent the attached letter to you requesting that you
investigate the bomb threat I had received via the internet and the
other allegations of FAA/DOTIG/NTSB coverup of druguse on the job by
FAA Air Traffic Controllers. It has been well over a year since you
received my letter and I have not received your reply nor have I been
contacted by the San Diego Field Office of the FBI as I had requested.
I am in contact with several active-duty FAA Air Traffic Controllers
who can verify my allegations. My letter to you follows the certified
letter by Mr. John King to James Kallstrom.
_________________________________________
CERTIFIED DELIVERY P 425 000 691 RESTRICTED DELIVERY Mr. James
Kallstrom Deputy Director Federal Bureau of investigation 26 Federal
Plaza New York, N.Y. 10278 December 30, 1996
Ref. NTSB/D.O.T.I.G misconduct (misprison of a felony)
Dear Mr. Kallstrom;
After seeing the TWA 800 piece on the December 22nd 60 Minutes program
I felt compelled to write. It was my opinion that Mr. Jim Hall,
chairman of the National Transportation Board, seemed a bit
uncomfortable. I would have been uncomfortable, had I certain
information that Mr. Hall had recently been given by me. So too had;
Mr, John Goglia, the assigned NTSB chairperson during the 5-day NTSB's
November ValuJet hearing, the former Department of Transportation
Investigator General (DOTIG) Mary Schiavo, and her replacement, Ms,
Joyce Fleichman. Earlier on, Mr. Goglia told me of a FAA officer's
admission to felonies, nine other FAA/DOT decisionmakers were also
given this information. None have responded.
That information is partly seen the attached 18 page "Brief To The
NTSB". In this 'Brief', allegations and supporting public documents
show;
1. That 18 months prior to the Eastern indictments, the FAA colluded
with the former Eastern Airlines management by deleting FAA documents
supportive of maintenance frauds. Such information was also witheld
from it's assigned field inspectors to alter the concluding reports.
Also that, the FAA wrote members of the house and senate calling
certain specific allegations of maintenance frauds "personnel related"
when those allegations actually resulted in findings and fines.
2. That the DOT permitted the FAA to place those false reports
(resulting from those deleted documents) , again, into the public
records at the 1994 DOT Lorenzo Fittness Investigation. Contrary to
that, the DOT struck from the records my testimony and FAA documents
"questioning methods, validity or result" as "beyond the scope of this
hearing".
3. That the DOTIG admitted to the chairman of the Senate Aviation
Committee that they "closed out" into the Lorenzo docket files my
brief of claims and supporting documentation that the FAA’s testimony
and exhibits were false. My offers for documentation went unanswered.
4. That the DOTIG has since said to me that it will not followup on
it's promise to inform me of the results of a second investigation to
the above. More importantly, they have also not informed the chairman
of the Senate Aviation Committee! Eighteen months have now passed.
Both the ValuJet and the TWA 800 cases seemingly remain unsolved. In
the attached 'Brief' has Mr. Hall mentioned to you the claims within
that;
5. In the 1989 FAA/NTSB Sioux City report, that the claim of no prior
similar problems and the claim that a prior National Airlines accident
was but a "fan overspeed" is directly contradicted by that earlier
NTSB's National accident findings of no cause. More critically, and
also omitted in the Sioux City report, two other engines were
determined to have failed in the same way. Why is the NTSB now calling
for 8000 such engines to have recurring inspections when the earlier
Sioux City report limited the problem to but 225 "suspect disks" ?
These disks and equally troubled companion parts (spools) are made by
General Electric. Simply, NTSB reports were falsified to cover-up
known manufacturing shortcuts and FAA’s liability for accepting that.
6. After the FAA's 1987 three month inspection of over "30,000"
suspect parts at the Elano East Corporation, the FAA says they have
"no records ". Simply, the FAA has lied to protect GE from liability
and FAA for the consequences of lack of oversight.
Electrical problems were worked on that ValueJet that crashed. The
FAA/NTSB has announced inspections of the tank wiring in the TWA 800
type aircraft, but only in certain type 747 aircraft - why? Are you
familiar with 'Kapton' wire and 'arc tracking' problems studied by
Boeing aircraft and others and the in-flight fires previously
recorded? In light of the above do you believe the FAA/NTSB to freely
discuss this with you? I know of industry experts that would. Please
ask.
On Nov. 12, 1996, Mr. Hall's executive secretariat (I.D.*961343)
received the attached 'Brief'. As a test of Mr. Hall's honesty, why
not ask Mr. Hall for a copy? Should not these cultural issues have
been brought to the agency's attention? The former DOTIG, Ms. Schiavo,
has claimed that she tried!
In the past your agency has had a poor record of listening to people
like me. The agency permitted the FAA/DOT to investigate itself and
hasn't responded to others. Unlike your TWA promise - that you would
take whatever time was needed, "even ten years" - with the Justice
Department's release of all the Eastern indictees, the cover-up of the
FAA's criminal role in the Eastern affair is now complete. Why? -
Because the N.Y. prosecutor, Mr. Valenti, told me this was because "so
much time had passed and we had trouble getting the records". Justice
delayed is justice denied!
In giving that deceased man's engagement ring back to his fiancée, you
did the right thing - can you do the right thing now? Please call any
time.
Sincerely,
John King
cc: Ed Block, Pat Price Jim Bergquist, Rod Stich
_____________________________________________________________
11/3/96
Louis J. Freeh Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington,
D.C.
Sir:
My name is James Bergquist. I am a former FAA Air Traffic Controller.
I have documented widespead criminal activity on the part of various
govermental agencies and have posted this material on the internet.
Yesterday I received a disturbing message from a Mr. (NAME DELETED TO
AID ANY INVESTIGATION IN THE FUTURE) who did not like what he read and
made a threat on my life by way of a bomb sent through the mail.
Being a governmental whistleblower, I take all threats on my life
seriously and expect that your agency will investigate this matter.
I also am requesting that you have your agency investigate the rest of
the allegations that I have made in the following article. As you can
see, I have contacted the San Diego field office on two occasions,
first on 5/8/89 where I talked with Agent Norma McKinsey and again on
8/21/90 when I met with Agent John Swartzwelder. On both ocassions
your agents advised me that drug use on the job, a felony, was only a
civil matter.
Please have your San Diego field office contact me as soon as
possible. They have my home phone number.
The message I received follows:
(BOMBTHREAT MESSAGE DELETED FROM THIS POSTING TO AID ANY INVESTIGATION
OF THIS INDIVIDUAL IN THE FUTURE)
On Sat, 2 Nov 1996 cli...@inet1.inetworld.net wrote:
WELCOME TO CRASH (COALITION REVEALING THE AVIATION SAFETY HOAX)
My name is James Bergquist. I was an FAA Air Traffic Controller and >
head of our union in San Diego. I was also terminated for revealing >
massive on the job alcohol and drug usage.
I have seen over 50% of my fellow controllers using alcohol,
marijuana, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and LSD in FAA facilities
nation-wide for over 25 years. I had a plane crash and was chewed by
a drunken supervisor for getting the fire equipment rolling. At Long
Beach Tower, I went to lunch with five other controllers and they were
drinking pitchers of margaritas. At the cash register, the supervisor
bought mints of everyone and joked "Let's go move some metal".
When I went to management after seeing a co-worker drinking at 8AM, I
was told it was none of my business and within four hours given six
months leave without pay. Two months later another controller reported
the same man drinking again. She was pulled out of the Navy Reserve
for her concern. This controller had been convicted twice in the >
U.S.Navy for dealing drugs and was hired during the 1981 PATCO strike
even after he listed these convictions on his FAA application.
When random drug testing was implimented in 1987, we were tipped off
the day before and my co-workers traded shifts with a "clean"
controller to avoid the test. Later I saw a co-worker using marijuana
at a party and days later get caught in a test only to have the
results come back negative. There were"high fives" at the tower that
day. The message had been sent. I have more information about the
fixing of these drug tests. I have had a commercial airline pilot at
my home using hallucinogenic mushrooms. When I asked him about his
pager, he told me he was on "standby:" He was also a Navy Reserve
F-14 pilot.
I have a tape of telephone conversations with co-workers who confirm
alcohol and drug usage in the workplace nation-wide over a period of
fifteen years. Another tape is of the FBI telling me that drug use on
the job is a "civil matter". Another is of a DOT IG investigator
telling me he didn't get my tape and if I gave him ten witnesses, he
would need twenty! This is after Senator Seymour asked the DOT IG to
investigate my allegations. I have a tape of me personally handing my
material to President Clinton in San Diego last year. And I have a
video tape of a "near miss" at the intersection of the runways at Long
Beach Airport while the controller in charge of the position is
"mooning" my camera.
When I played my tape to Congressman Duncan Hunter, he asked the DEA
to investigate. After talking to them on the phone for just a few
minutes, they halted their investigation without contacting my
witnesses and turned the matter over to the "fox that guards the
henhouse", the FAA. Congressman Hunter did nothing more. When I
played the tape to Congressman Jim Bates, he asked the GAO to
investigate. They wrote back claiming to be a "small organization"
and unable to investigate. Congressman Bates did nothing more. After
playing my tapes to Mr. Sammy Ybarra of Sen. Barbara Boxer's office
in San Diego, I sent Sen. Boxer 12 letters asking different agencies
to respond. No letters were sent and no calls returned . You can
contact Sen. Boxer at sen...@boxer.senate.gov Try asking the Senator
why she did nothing and forward her response to me. Senator Diane
Feinstein's office did not even return my calls after I FAXed my
material to her asking for an meeting with her staff. Senator
Feinstein is at sen...@feinstein.senate.gov
We have sent our material and tapes to the members of the
Congressional Aviation Subcommittee, the Senate Commerce Committee,
and the Senate Committee of Oversight and Investigation. We have asked
to testify to these committees on several occasions. They keep
"losing" my tapes, and after they see what we have, refuse to return
our calls. I have tapes of conference calls to staff of Senator Larry
Pressler, Senator William Cohen, and Senator Carl Levin. The Senate
Commerce Committee is at comm...@hr.house.gov Chairman Larry
Pressler (R-SD) larry_p...@pressler.senate.gov William Cohen
(R-ME) bill...@cohen.senate.gov Carl Levin (D-MI)
sen...@levin.senate.gov John McCain (R-AZ)
senator...@mccain.senate.gov Wendell H.Ford (D-KY)
wendel...@ford.senate.gov Olympia J.Snowe (R-ME)
oly...@snowe.senate.gov Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC)
sen...@hollings.senate.gov Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
sen...@hutchison.senate.gov Committee on Governmental Affairs
Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) senator...@stevens.senate.gov Fred
Thompson (R-TN) senator_...@thompson.senate.gov Thad Cochran
(R-MS) sen...@cochran.senate.gov Bob Smith (R-NH)
opi...@smith.senate.gov > Hank Brown ( R-CO)
senato...@brown.senate.gov > John Glenn (OH) No E-mail address >
Sam Nunn (GA) No E-mail address > David Pryor (AR) No E-mail address >
Joseph I. Leiberman (CT) senator_...@leiberman.senate.gov >
Daniel K. Inouye (HI) sen...@inouye.senate.gov > Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
sen...@dorgan.senate.gov
The members of the Aviation Subcommittee of Congress are. Spencer
Bachus (R-AL) sba...@hr.house.gov Jerry Costello (D-IL)
jfc...@hr.house.gov > Bud Cramer (D-AL) bud...@hr.house.gov Peter
DeFasio (D-OR) pdef...@hr.house.gov Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
cong...@hr.house.gov Vic Fazio (D-CA) dca...@hr.house.gov Jerold
Nadler (D-NY) nad...@hr.house.gov James Oberstar (D-MN)
ober...@hr.house.gov > Andrea Seastran (R-CA) andr...@hr.house.gov >
Randy Tate (R-WA) rt...@hr.house.gov
I have sent my material and tapes to both the Bush and Clinton
Administrations. They always send it on to the DOT IG who responds on
the President's behalf saying my allegations have been investigated
and have been found to be "without merit". Pres. Clinton
pres...@whitehouse.gov On 4/9/96 I Faxed my material to the UN
organization ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Air
Operations Branch. A Mr. Cadieux told me the UN did not want to lock
horns with the U.S. Government. I am still waiting for a reply from
the Secretary General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. You can contact
ICAO at ica...@icao.org
I have seen massive cheating at the FAA Academy in Okla. City. for
over 35 years.(my father taught there). Control Towers are
dangerously undermanned while controllers falsify attendance logs and
leave hours early. If there is an incident at the airport, the
remaining controller fills in the proper time. This procedure, called
the "early shove" has taken place nation-wide for 25 years. I believe
this may have been a contributing factor in the US 1493 crash at LAX
(see page 17 of the NTSB report)
From my contacts on radio talk shows, I have met other FAA
whistleblowers. They have followed the same channels as I and were
treated in an identical manner. They were ignored.
Mr. Rodney Stich was an international airline pilot and FAA safety
inspector who has written a 650 page book titled "The Real Unfriendly
Skies" which alleges the FAA, DOT IG, and NTSB falsified the causes of
scores of aviation disasters for over thirty years. ( See
www.copi.com/defrauding_america/chp_04.htm )
Mr. John King was an Eastern Airlines mechanic who uncovered a
conspiracy between the FAA and Eastern to coverup dangerous flaws in
their maintainence procedures. He has documentation that the FAA lied
about many previous incidents involving fan disk failures like that
which occurred in the Sioux City crash of UA232.
Mr. Ed Block was a DOD wiring expert and employee of the year. The
next year he was fired when he refused to keep quiet about defective
wiring throughout the defense and aviation industries.
We have all gone to aviation safety "watchdog" groups like the
Government Accountability Project, the Aviation Safety Institute, the
Aviation Consumer Action Project, and the International Airline
Passengers Association. You will see these people on television after
every airline disaster. They attended the FAA safety summit on 1/9 &
10/95. They have our material and have done nothing but take in more
money from their members and who knows where else.
On 7/8/96, the DOT Inspector General, Ms.Mary F. Schiavo, resigned
after condemming the FAA during the Congressional Aviation
Subcommittee's hearings on the Valujet grounding on 6/28/96. The
Clinton Administration claims she was not forced from office. The
Congress says that she should have come to them with her concerns
before publicly condemming the FAA. The truth is that the Congress
does not want to know that the system is not safe. Big money from big
business plays an active role here.
If you believe we have a free press in America, contact them with this
story and follow up in a week. Contact me with the excuses you hear.
Press
CBS ma...@uttm.com CNN cnn.fe...@cnn.com Larry King l...@cnn.com
NBC nig...@nbc.com
Dateline NBC date...@nbc.com
Primetime ptl...@ccabc.com
If you find any other press e-mail addresses, please forward them.
We want to contact the survivors and relative of victims of aviation
disasters including PA103, UA232, US427, US1016, US1493, VJ592, and
TW800. If you know the whereabouts of these people or other FAA,DOT
IG, or NTSB whistleblowers, have them contact us. We have thousands of
pages of documentation and hundreds of hours of tapes for them. They
have a right to know the truth.
James A. Bergquist
Air Safety Activist
P.S. I am receiving form e-mail responses from the politicians above
after you have contacted them. As I suspected, none of them has
contacted us. When your e-mail is addressed an...@the.net these
politiians will not respond in writing This is the way that they can
dodge this issue. They only respond if you give your snail mail
address and only they if you reside in their state. Thank you and keep
up the great work.
_______________________________________________
In conclusion, I am again requesting that the FBI investigate our
allegations of governmental corruption which we have brought to your
attention and to stop protecting these criminals. Remember that you
are a public servant and required by law to investigate these
allegations.
This letter will be forwarded to the President Clinton, Attorney
General Janet Reno, the Whitehouse Commission on Aviation Safety and
Security, members of the House Aviation Subcommittee, the press, the
families of the victims of TW800 and Valujet flight 592, and will be
posted on the internet.
Sincerely,
James A. Bergquist
Air Safety Activist
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Last changed: March 06, 1998