frank_thompson

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0415/mondo1.php

Mondo Washington
by James Ridgeway
Fear of Flying
April 13th, 2004 8:30 AM

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Like most of the Bush cabinet, Attorney General John
Ashcroft took commercial jets when he traveled. But on July 24, 2001,
he changed that practice and began flying in chartered government
jets. Asked by CBS News at the time about the change, the Justice
Department cited a "threat assessment" by the FBI and said Ashcroft
had been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of
his term. "There was a threat assessment, and there are guidelines. He
is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. But as CBS
went on to report, "Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department,
however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected, or
who made it." A "senior official" at the CIA said he wasn't aware of
specific threats against any cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself
declared, "I don't do threat assessments myself, and I rely on those
whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community,
particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that
they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes." When asked
if he knew details of the threat or who might have made it, Ashcroft
said, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

The Justice Department did say that it wasn't Ashcroft who wanted to
fly in leased airplanes, but that it was the idea of his FBI security
detail. The FBI had no comment. All other Bush cabinet members flew on
commercial airliners, save for the secretaries of Energy and the
Interior when they traveled to remote areas. Janet Reno, Clinton's
attorney general, traveled by commercial jets.