CIAir

[William Kelly]

Sec. of AF Zuckert ordered LeMay to land at Andrews, yet LeMay landed at DCNational.

What does Zuckert have to say about this?

From CIAir:

EventuallyCongress decided to investigate these matters, but when Robert Roussoulet wasscheduled to testify before a Congressional committee in 1976, he mysteriouslyfailed to appear, and never did testify.

One CIA director eventuallyasked the simple question, "How many planes does the CIA own?" But theanswer came back that they really didn't know. In fact, one of the CIA airlines had moreemployees (30,000) than the CIA itself.

On February 5, 1963 the CIA airlines wereformally organized under the umbrella of EXCOMAIR – the Executive Committee forAir Proprietary Operations. EXCOMAIR was, "to provide general policyguidance for the management of air propriety projects and reviewrecommendations for approval of air proprietary project actions." LawrenceHouston was appointed chairman of the committee.

In thefall of 1963 Coats Lear was killed by a shotgun blast to the head. Althoughsome suggested it was suicide, others believe he was murdered.

Lear wasa law partner in Eugene Zuckert's firm, and Zuckert, as Secretary of the AirForce, was involved in the awarding of contracts.

EdDriscol, the man who handled the administration of many of the MATS contractsat the Pentagon, became Executive Director of the Civil Aeronautics Board afterthe death of Lear. Later, Driscol became VP at World Airways, one of thecompanies he funneled MATS contracts to from the Pentagon and CAB.

Driscolwas the Director of Transportation under Joseph Imire, the Assistant Secretaryof the Air Force and John H. Rubel, the Asst. Secretary of Defense. With CABchairman Alan S. Boyd, they effectively ended the competitive bidding for MATScontracts and arbitrarily awarded them to their favorite airlines connected tothe CIA and/or Lear & Zuckert.

Ruble,Imire and Driscol all resigned shortly before the death of Lear. While Driscolwent on to the CAB and World Airways, Ruble and Imire became Vice President ofLitton Industries, a major defense contractor.

Anotherexplanation for Lear's death is provided by Amos Heacock, another independentairline owner put out of business by the CIA, who believes thatis a connection between Lear's demise and the assassination of PresidentKennedy shortly thereafter.

Heacockbelieves Lear's law partner, Eugene Zuckert, as Secretary of the Air Force, hadsomething to do with the scheduling of the President's visit to Texas. He may have beenresponsible for the upkeep of Air Force One and Two, the planes provided forExecutive office use by the President, Vice President and the cabinet.

Accordingto this theory, Zuckert, as Secretary of the Air Force, obtained foreknowledgeof the assassination, information that was also picked up by Lear. This eitherdrove Lear crazy enough to kill himself, or made him unstable and a threattothose planning to kill the President, so Lear also had to die.

Zuckert,a graduate of Yale University, served as theAssistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1947-1952 and was a member of theAtomic Energy Commission from 1952-1954. He left the Nuclear Science and EngineeringCorporation of Pittsburgh (no longer listed inthe phone book) where he worked from 1960-61, to become Secretary of the AirForce. The NE&E Corp. is described in "Elites in AmericanHistory" as "a relatively small Pittsburgh based concern which wasbacked by various financial interests, chief of which was probably New York's Lehman Brothers, aconcern with great politico-economic influence."

One ofthe most important decisions Zuckert made as Air Force Secretary concerned theF-111 jet fighter contract. Although every independent study recommended thatthe contract be awarded to Boeing, which designed both a less expensive andbetter performing aircraft, the contract went to General Dynamics.

Thisdecision was made by four men – Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, DeputySecretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatrick, Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth andAir Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert.

Gilpatrick was a former Wall Street law firm of Cravath,Swaine & Moore, and had previously represented General Dynamics, whileKorth was president of Continental National Bank of Ft. Worth, Texas.General Dynamic's Ft. Worth Plant eventually received the bulk of the contract.

[William Kelly's research is supported in partby a grant from the Fund For Constitutional Government Investigative JournalismProject.]