EXPOSING LEAHY’S LEGACY OF LIES: Week of Oct. 28
EXPOSING LEAHY’S LEGACY OF LIES — Part 2
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
Quotations from the Air Force’s official records of the F-35 Burlington Basing Selection Process
Introductory Statement:
“We are here to read to you a quotation from the Air Force official administrative record of the F-35 Burlington basing selection process and to get your response to it.”
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Concluding Statement:
“We request that Senator Leahy initiate an independent investigation into the political corruption of the F-35 Burlington basing selection process.”
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Day 10: Monday, October 28, 2019
On August 30, 2013, Mr Penland, the Headquarters Air Force chief of Operational Basing,
wrote to Mr Murr, an Air Force official in Headquarters Air Combat Command, questioning why the Secretary of the Air Force selected Burlington as the “Preferred Alternative.” In an effort to come up with reasons for selecting Burlington, some entities have mentioned airspace as the reason. He says that airspace had nothing to do with selecting Burlington initially or now. Moreover, he intimates that airspace is a flimsy reason upon which to select Burlington for F-35 basing.
“As to why the Secretary picked Burlington as a preferred alternative before, my understanding is airspace had nothing to do with it and I would avoid trying to make the case now that it does or was why he picked it last time or should this time. If we don’t have other good reasons for picking Burlington beyond airspace, we need to think hard about what really should be picked.” (Admin Record #62293)
Day 11: Tuesday, October 29, 2019
On August 30, 2013, Mr Chupein, an official in Headquarters Air Force Operations, wrote to Mr Penland, the Headquarters Air Force chief of Operational Basing about the lack of data to support Burlington as the best location for the F-35 basing. Additionally, he says that the Air Force staff is recommending that the Air Force select only the active duty Air Force Base, which would be Hill AFB, and not select an Air National Guard base at this time. (Ops 1 refers to the active duty Air Force Base, and Ops 3 refers to the Air National Guard base.). He says their recommendation is based on the “integrity” of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Strategic Basing (SB) processes, meaning that these processes did not support selecting Burlington. He advises against making up reasons (such as airspace) that he calls “unsubstantiated or dubious” to push for Burlington. He says the facts should drive the decision.
“The decision to identify Burlington as the preferred alternative, by all accounts, had nothing to do with airspace. Nor can we empirically claim that Burlington has the best airspace as we don’t have the testing to support the claim. It’s not a defendable discriminator. We’re advocating to A3/5 [Operations and Planning offices] leadership to split the Ops 1 and 3 RoDs [Records of Decision]. Likewise, we’re promoting the integrity of the EIS and SB process as a means to consider all reasonable alternatives and to make the best, informed decision. We can’t back this in. My recommendation is to avoid unsubstantiated or dubious qualitative statements and let the data stand on its own. Military judgement will account for other considerations.” (Admin Record #62293)
Day 12: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
On September 3, 2013, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy called General Welsh, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (the four-star General in charge of the Air Force) to tell him that he wanted the F-35 to be based in Burlington. Here we see an example (one of 54 such instances mentioned in the Air Force Administrative Record) of the political pressure Senator Leahy exerted on the Air Force causing them to ignore the overwhelming evidence against Burlington, and instead to choose Burlington. Nichols, an Air Force Congressional Appropriations Liaison, wrote notes on the telephone conversation between Leahy and Welsh and sent these in an email to Major General Martin, from the Secretary of the Air Force office, Kathleen Ferguson, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics & Environment, and Mr Thomas an F-35 Program Analyst. Excerpts from his notes include
“–Sen Leahy opened with casual conversation and wanted to be a little more “parochial” concerning F-35
–He strongly supports F-35 in Vermont. Tiny vocal minority that is against it. He has received over 200 letters from the group; however, he has over 13k signatures for it
–He strongly urges the AF to not delay the RoD in light of the rumor that there would be a two year delay for Ops 3 (ANG)
-He understands the rationale of splitting the decision into two RoDs, one for Active Duty and one for ANG but asks for little or no delay in the two RoDs
-By not delaying the Guard decision affords more planning time prior to delivery of aircraft
-He concluded with a huge compliment of the current TAG and unit. “They are doing a great job and are the most loyal, patriotic people in the world. You would be proud of them and they would not disappoint you if they got the F-35.” (Admin Record #62303)
Day 13: Thursday, October 31, 2019
The Air Force Administrative Record shows over 50 examples of Senator Leahy and his staff’s interference in the F-35 Burlington basing selection process. Here are some of the phrases that mention his interference. They come directly from the official Air Force record regarding basing the F-35 in Burlington. Here are the first group of quotations out of 54 citations about Leahy’s interference:
- “I heard from Sen Leahy’s staff today…
- “Sen Leahy’s office is requesting…
- “at the request of Sen Leahy…
- “I just got back from an engagement on Capitol Hill with members of Sen Leahy’s staff…
- “meet with members of Sen Leahy’s (VT) staff…
- “recent meetings with Sen Leahy’s staff…
- Mention of Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and the Environment, Kathleen Ferguson, sending an email to Leahy staffers…
- “the letter from Sen Leahy to the SECAF {Secretary of the Air Force}…
- “Sen Leahy sent a letter requesting AF delay release of the draft F-35 EIS…
- “SECAF has recently received a letter from Sen Leahy…
- “a few things happening with Vermont ANG…and Vermont Senator Leahy…
- “Sen Leahy’s letter about delaying the EIS for Karnes 3 flight profile updates…
- “the proposed response to Senator Leahy…
- “Senator Leahy wrote to the SECAF expressing his concern about releasing the F-35 Operational EIS before the Karnes 3 profile data is incorporated…
- “MG Cray and Col Baczewski have been working the issue with senior leaders in ANG, ACC, and Congress…
Day 14: Friday, November 1, 2019
The Air Force Administrative Record shows over 50 examples of Senator Leahy and his staff’s interference in the F-35 Burlington basing selection process. Here are some of the phrases that mention his interference. They come directly from the official Air Force record regarding basing the F-35 in Burlington. Here is the second group of quotations out of 54 citations about Leahy’s interference:
- “A letter from Sen Leahy from Vermont pushing for use of Karnes 3 is what started us down this road…
- “Sen Leahy somehow found out about it and pushed to include it into OPS EIS that is ongoing…
- “We may need to get Senator Leahy involved and have his office contact Senator Susan Collins’ office…. NOTE: this was written by Vermont Air National Guard member, Lt Col Chris Caputo
- “got a call this morning from Sen Leahy’s office regarding F-35 basing at Burlington…
- “SAF/IEI expects a Congressional from Senator Leahy and will explain that the basing candidate list was made on information available at the time…
- “Sen Leahy has been supportive and would probably like to see the response provided…
- Mention of an email sent by Leahy, Sanders, and Welch to the Secretary of the Air Force, Mr. Donley…
- “proposed answers to Senator Leahy’s questions…
- “Air Force was getting feedback that the Vermont delegation…
- “Sen Leahy wants to ensure the Air Force that this position is not true…
- “Sen Leahy’s MLA wants to make sure the AF leadership knows they want the F-35…
- “Sen Leahy is concerned that the AF may think VT is not in favor of the F-35 being based in VT…