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USAF Administrative Record of the F-35A Basing Selection Process

Complete USAF F-35A Administrative Record

As part of the lawsuit brought against the USAF by the City of Winooski and Vermont citizens, the federal judge assigned to the case requested the Air Force provide the complete record of their decision-making process, called the Administrative Record (AR). The AR contains all of the documentation, including all correspondence and communications (emails, letters, etc.), that occurred during the three-year-long basing decision process.

The USAF submitted over 8,000 AR files encompassing years of communications in random order (not in chronological sequence). The files contain documentation for all six bases that were being considered for the F-35 basing round. The files are not organized by base, but rather are intermingled; e.g., emails on Vermont are mixed in with emails on South Carolina, Florida, Utah, and Idaho. The AR contains duplicative files and much redundancy in long email conversational threads. Quite a few files were redacted.

Compilation of significant files from the F-35A Administrative Record

This is an abridged list of official documents culled from 8,000 files, which make up the United States Air Force’s (USAF) Administrative Record (AR) of the F-35A basing selection process. The AR contains all of the documentation, including all correspondence and communications (emails, letters, etc.), that occurred during the three-year-long basing decision process.

As part of the lawsuit brought against the USAF by the City of Winooski and Vermont citizens, the federal judge assigned to the case requested the Air Force provide the complete record of their decision-making process. The Plaintiffs claim that during the selection process the USAF violated numerous provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires that whenever a proposed action will cause significant impacts to the environment federal entities must take a hard look at the impacts and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) detailing the environmental consequences.

The USAF submitted over 8,000 AR files encompassing years of communications in random order (not in chronological sequence). The files contain documentation for all six bases that were being considered in the F-35 basing round. The files are not organized by base, but rather are intermingled; e.g., emails on Vermont are mixed in with emails on South Carolina, Florida, Utah, and Idaho. The AR contains duplicative files and much redundancy in long email conversational threads. Quite a few files were redacted.

The plaintiffs’ legal counsel and citizen volunteers reviewed all of the files and attempted to identity and list those which were pertinent to the Burlington community’s concerns and questions. Some records seem to show violations of federal regulations and/or unethical actions. Most of the pertinent files were email exchanges between and among Vermont Air National Guard officials, personnel from Air Combat Command (ACC) and personnel from USAF headquarters. (ACC was the Air Force organization responsible for the F-35A basing process.)

Index of the F-35A Administrative Record

Click here to view individual files