avt100
4th Mar 2002, 23:18
Federal sky marshals allegedly have been frequenting fleshpots in Southeast Asia and South America to procure children for sex. . .. .Amid news from a whistle-blower that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials covered up or ignored serious lapses in U.S. aviation security — both before and after Sept. 11 — come startling new allegations of sexual misconduct overseas involving at least three federal air marshals, one of whom is accused of having sex with a 13-year-old child.. .. .The stunning new allegations, covering a time period between the early 1990s and at least through Jan. 1, 2000, include allegations of visits to whorehouses, bordellos and interactive strip clubs. These allegations were shared with federal authorities by Insight because of the seriousness of the charges and the credible nature of the sources, one of whom has asked to be called an "anonymous whistle-blower.". .. .Steve Elson, a former Navy SEAL and former member of the FAA's elite and secret "Red Team" that conducted mock raids to test security at U.S. airports, tells Insight that over the years he has been made aware of sexual exploitation of children by traveling U.S. aviation-security personnel. "I heard them talk about having sex with young girls," he says. "Some of them talked about how [the children] were hairless [in their pubic area]. It was disgusting. My impression is that the behavior was pretty well-known. It was kind of a joke.". .. .Elson, whose security office was on the same floor at Washington Dulles International Airport as the federal air-marshal program, often conducted intelligence debriefings of the air marshals upon their return from overseas assignments in which they shared such stories. Asked pointedly whether, given al-Qaeda's long-standing presence in the Philippines, for instance, alleged sexcapades there constituted a security risk, he replied: "Obviously so — in retrospect.". .. .When Insight raised these matters with officials at the Department of Transportation (DOT), the FAA and DOT's Office of Inspector General (IG) they said the allegations had not reached their level. Most officials contacted doubted the truth of the allegations.. .. .Nevertheless, within days of the magazine's initial contact with DOT to review the charges, the following statement was provided to Insight from the office of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta:. .. ."Secretary Mineta considers activities of the type described in these allegations outrageous. Immediately after learning of the allegations he asked the inspector general of the DOT to begin investigating. And that process began [Feb. 23]. The investigation continues with the full cooperation of Undersecretary John Magaw and his staff at the Transportation Security Administration.". .. .Insight also reached out to individuals caught up in the allegations, including three who have been identified to the inspector general. These three individuals declined to speak with the magazine on the record, and their names and identities have been withheld by editors. Two of the three would not comment and the other flatly denied any knowledge of any such conduct.. .. .If found to be true, the charges raise not only moral and legal issues — they may pose significant threats to airline safety as a result of potential blackmail of aviation-security officials or leaked secrets concerning which airlines or flights are carrying air marshals at any given moment.. .. .Moreover, department officials say, any such sexual misconduct by federal air marshals or other U.S. aviation-security personnel raises particular concern because both terrorist and organized criminal enterprises operate in the countries named as centers of the alleged debaucheries. These include Thailand, Brazil and, particularly, the Philippines.. .. .The anonymous whistle-blower who contacted Insight has identified at least three current FAA employees and implicated a number of others (both current and former employees) as having engaged in this gross sexual misbehavior or having known of such activities but having done nothing about it because (1) it was personal behavior or (2) such acts are not illegal where they were committed. One of the allegations, Insight and investigators have been told, involved an FAA employee boasting of having had sex with children. However, in reporting this story, DOT brass denied having any knowledge of such activities or finding any reports or complaints.. .. .Most sources interviewed by the magazine did not want to be quoted by name but assured Insight they are willing to share their information with federal investigators. The magazine has obtained two affidavits by one individual who claims to have been told that the alleged sexcapades spanned at least three continents and centered on Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro and Manila. Many of those mentioned as either engaging in or knowing about such activities had or have top-secret clearances.. .. .The accusations of sexual misconduct and potential failure to investigate follow a front-page story that ran in USA Today on Feb. 25 detailing allegations from a high-level security expert for the FAA who filed a whistle-blower claim last summer with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) detailing lax security at U.S. airports before and since Sept. 11. The report was filed by Bogdan Dzakovic, a former air marshal and part of an elite Red Team security detail that tests airport- and airline-security measures — even though this team hasn't done so, apparently, since 9/11.. .. .DOT officials have admitted to security lapses before the tragic events of Sept. 11 but vigorously have defended their security procedures after those attacks, notwithstanding some chilling gaps discovered since, including a CBS News exclusive filmed in recent weeks showing the ease with which one of its reporters could breach airport-security procedures. The General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted similar tests both before and after 9/11 and also found security gaps.. .. .Congress recently passed significant legislation, signed into law by President George W. Bush, to fortify airline and airport security, including creation of a new Transportation Security Agency (TSA). As part of this effort, airport workers involved in security are to become employees of the federal government and undergo rigorous screening and training. Dzakovic and others have said that had top officials heeded warnings about security lapses and cover-ups, the events of Sept. 11 might not have occurred.. .. .Coming on top of reported security lapses at airports are the new allegations of sexual exploitation of child prostitutes and other perversions in the international fleshpots by rogue sky marshals. The charges have rattled the IG's office, upper management at the FAA and DOT, particularly since the sources claim to have reported such activities over a number of years but say authorities declined to investigate or promised to probe and never did. However, the agencies told Insight they never had heard of such activities prior to the magazine's inquiries.. .. .This is similar to the pattern of the "cover-up" Dzakovic complained about to the OSC regarding separate charges of security lapses now being probed by the IG. Tom Devine, the legal director of the Government Accountability Project, who is representing Dzakovic, tells Insight his client has no qualms about speaking to investigators concerning any alleged wrongdoing.. .. .In fact, as the general security issue was about to break in USA Today and Mineta ordered federal investigators to probe the sex-related allegations, Insight learned that IG agents visited Dzakovic on Feb. 23. "Our client is always willing to cooperate officially and will do so in this or any other matters," says Devine, who declined to make Dzakovic immediately available other than to federal authorities.. .. .The anonymous whistle-blower, who was interviewed intensively by this magazine at length over a period of days, says concerned FAA employees attempted to bring attention to such "well-known" misconduct but were shunned. At one point a sworn statement dating back to the early 1990s surfaced to bolster this source's claims that an effort had been made to alert superiors. Asked directly whether such alleged conduct still was ongoing, the anonymous whistle-blower says: "I don't know, but I hear it is." The source declined to be more specific.. .. .In another statement, made to federal investigators and provided to Insight, a source says these sexual "party" trips occurred so frequently throughout the agency that alleged participants demeaned the children they were using for sexual purposes by calling them "LBFMs," or little brown f****** machines.. .. .Such charges come at a particularly difficult juncture for the FAA, which is undergoing a significant post-Sept. 11 expansion, while facing accusations by counterterrorism experts such as Elson and Dzakovic that security at U.S. airports is a veneer pasted over myriad vulnerabilities to terrorist attack.. .. .The anonymous whistle-blower —who is prepared to take a polygraph test if asked — tells Insight that it was common for FAA teams landing in Bangkok to forgo debriefings and administrative matters and immediately head out to clubs catering to the sex trade. "When we'd go to Bangkok, it was check in at the hotel, brush your teeth and immediately go out to party," the source said. "We bypassed our normal procedures … so that people could immediately go to this 'comfort' section of town, which was called Pat Pong.. .. ."On my first trip out there, there was quite a bit of pressure to go [to the clubs]. They said: 'It's not that you have to do anything with one of those kids, but you should at least go to one of the shows.' There were different kinds of sex shows that they had, too, involving these kids. And I never went to any of them. I thought it was repugnant." . .. .Sex acts such as those involving children are illegal in the United States but are tolerated by the law in some Third World nations. "I don't give a damn if it's legal over there. It's illegal here and it's immoral behavior that we cannot tolerate by anyone in the federal government," says a very senior DOT official.. .. .Another source, who asked that she not be identified, says problems have existed for years at FAA and been investigated often by the IGs and the GAO. "But a culture exists of 'good old boys' that is [hard] to penetrate." Insight asked GAO officials if they were aware of the alleged sexcapades, notwithstanding strenuous investigations concerning security and personnel matters at the FAA. That said, noted one: "We never thought to ask, to be perfectly frank. It's not something that was brought to our attention," one GAO source said.. .. .Another aviation-security official interviewed about these matters confirms having heard FAA people talking about exotic trips overseas but, like others who have spoken to Insight, this source also expressed concern that speaking out would bring reprisals. As with the allegations brought by the anonymous whistle-blower, this aviation-security official said those who spoke privately of the sexcapades either heard about them from friends "bragging" at bars, over dinner or on the rumor mill. For example: "You could rent one or more of these people for the weekend for a very nominal fee — 15 or 20 dollars for two or three days. … A lot of guys would not do that because they would rather have different children as opposed to the same one for the weekend," the anonymous whistle-blower says.. .. .At another club, as it was described to the source, a "mother-daughter" team engaged in sexual relations, while a female prostitute groped a female air marshal in the audience. One senior manager bragged to several colleagues that he was bathed by two barely teen-age girls who then simultaneously performed oral sex on him.. .. .Apparently this sort of thing was sought out by the alleged offenders all over the world. "It was the dirty open secret" that many knew about even though the majority of people didn't engage in this type of behavior, says an FAA source. In the Philippines, recounted an aviation-security official: "You could pick women or children off the floor [at sex clubs] and they would have rooms there, or you could bring them back to your hotel room." This source continues: "We flew down to Rio and they went to one of these kinds of bars — I don't know if it involved children or not — but a place with hookers, a strip club, and the team leader engaged in oral sex with one of the dancers on stage: He was doing her." Insight was told this incident was reported to a senior FAA manager but no action was taken. When reached, this manger denied any knowledge of the incident and referred inquiries to FAA's public-affairs department.. .. .Senior DOT officials were angry to hear such allegations. "This sounds like total BS to me," said one who told Insight it seemed odd that this was the first time they had heard of any such behavior. "If it's been reported it has not filtered up the various chains of command," a DOT official said, "certainly not to top brass in Washington." One FAA official attempting to respond to the magazine also complained: "Why haven't these people come forward before now, and why have their formal complaints not reached senior levels?" Then Secretary Mineta got involved and ordered the IG probe, making clear that in this administration any such behavior would be thoroughly investigated and not tolerated. The culture of looking the other way in the presence of gross sexual misbehavior by government officials, explains a Washington insider, has changed with the election of George W. Bush.. .. .When Insight asked airline-security sources why no action had been taken earlier to stop such misbehavior they all said, in essence, that they had told superiors and managers over the years and figured that eventually something would be done. As years went by nothing happened, and people accused of either engaging in the sexcapades or knowing about them were promoted. Seeing this, the sources said, they decided to shut up for fear of reprisal in a culture that was plagued with insensitivity toward women and bawdy behavior, as publicly reported by both the GAO and the IGs at DOT in the mid-1990s.. .. ."I should have come forward sooner," is a lament heard often from those making such claims today, including the anonymous whistle-blower who told Insight over breakfast recently that since Sept. 11 his conscience has bothered him about many things. "Frankly, I didn't want to think about any of this before 9/11," the source says.. .. .Many at DOT, as well as others who have investigated the FAA over the years, have expressed both shock and disbelief at the allegations. But, due to the seriousness of the charges and the willingness of some to expose themselves to polygraphs and the legal consequences of lying to federal agents, Mineta and IG Ken Meade, a former top-ranking investigator for the GAO, are taking no chances. Their investigation is only in the preliminary stage, say insiders, but it will be thorough. Insight will report whatever they find.. .. .More at <a href="http://luchtvaart.pagina.nl" target="_blank">Aviation News</a> . .. . <img src="http://insightmag.com/media/paper441/stills/g561tf8n.gif" alt="" />