WP: FAA Sets New Rules After Flap Over Search

[Nambe]

Washington Post

The Federal Aviation Administration yesterday imposed its first-ever restrictions on the release of aircraft tracking information. The decision grew out of the controversy about the agency's disclosure of its exhaustive search on behalf of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for a plane thought to be carrying Texas state Democratic lawmakers.

Acting to quell Democratic accusations that DeLay's request for information about the plane had improperly pulled FAA employees into the middle of a partisan political fight, the FAA declared yesterday that information on the "position, altitude, heading, flight plan, origination, or destination of a single aircraft" should be released only to law enforcement authorities or for official purposes such as an ongoing probe or "safety or efficiency."

The new rule appeared to rule out a repeat of DeLay's controversial use of FAA employees May 12 to learn the whereabouts of a plane registered to Texas lawmaker James E. "Pete" Laney. Laney, along with other Texas Democrats, was attempting to escape a quorum call by Republicans, who command a majority in the Texas House and wanted to enact a redistricting bill favoring the election of more Republicans to Congress. ---

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