4um: Airlines, Others Sue FBI, CIA To Depose Agents In 9-11 Cases

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Airline manufacturer Boeing Co. (BA), major airlines and several airport operators sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday in a bid to question current and former agency employees in connection with negligence litigation over the Sept. 11th

terrorist attacks.

In separate lawsuits, the airlines and others are challenging decisions by the FBI and the CIA that prevent them from conducting depositions of those employees.

The airlines include AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL),

Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI).

The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan International Airport in Boston, and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, which operates Ronald Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., also are plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

The lawsuits, filed in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, are related to ongoing negligence litigation over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

In the FBI lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking to conduct depositions of:

Scott Billings, a FBI special agent formerly assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force; Erik T. Rigler, a former FBI special agent; Michael Rolince, a FBI section chief for International Terrorism Operations Section from 1998 to 2002; Coleen M. Rowley, a former FBI special agent and Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel; and Harry Samit, a FBI special agent assigned to the Minneapolis Field office and Joint Terrorism Task Force in August and September 2001.

The agents were involved in FBI investigations of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and its operatives before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the complaint.

In the CIA lawsuit, they are seeking to depose a former deputy chief of the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit code-named "John" and a FBI special agent assigned to that unit code-named "Mary." They are believed to have information regarding two of the hijackers who carried out the attacks, according to the complaint.

Special Agent Richard Kolko, a FBI spokesman in Washington, said he wasn't aware of the lawsuits and the FBI wouldn't comment on ongoing litigation.

A call to the CIA's public affairs office in Langley, Va., wasn't immediately returned late Tuesday.

Oh my - this doesn't bode well for Tenet to be able to keep his Medal of Freedom and pension perks or for Mueller to keep his job. harharhar It couldn't happen to a more deserving couple of ash-hats.

If there is any justice in this world both deadbeats will be stripped of all taxpayer funded stipends/honors.

And though the big fish who allowed 9/11 to happen can't be touched, at least the taxpayers should have the satisfaction of witnessing a very public humiliation of incompetent minions like Tenet and Meuller.

The very first whiff I smelled of something not being right was on 9/12 when Goofy did not fire Tenet and Meuller on the spot. Talk about gross negligence/incompetence! But Goofy did nothing except praise Tenet and Meuller for their efforts - what's wrong with that picture, I said to myself...