The Victims of Terrorism: An Assessment of Their Influence and ...

20 The Victims of TerrorismGeorge Mitchell (D-ME). Her efforts are credited with having played a role in convincing SenatorsDole and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to support legislative action to ensure the implementationof Executive Order 12686. Signed by President Bush on August 4, 1989, the order createda seven-member investigative Aviation Security and Terrorism Commission. Family membersof four Pan Am 103 victims—Ammerman, Cummock, Joan Dater, and Hudson—were thefirst witnesses to testify in a series of five public hearings before the commission, popularlyreferred to as the McLaughlin Commission, named after its chair and former Secretary ofLabor, Ann McLaughlin (Gerson and Adler, 2001, pp. 58–61, 63, and 67–68).Both Pan Am groups’ lobbying of Congress paid off with the passage of the bill introducedby Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) in response to the commission’s recommendations.Although the bill’s provisions focused on preventing explosives from being smuggledonto aircraft, it also mandated the creation of a directorate of intelligence and security withinthe Department of Transportation. Nonetheless, the legislation provoked renewed wranglingamong the two victims’ groups. While VPAF 103 endorsed the bill when it was introduced,Families of Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie considered it too weak and successfully pushed forthe addition of more stringent security requirements (Gerson and Adler, 2001, pp. 93–94). Ina number of respects, the Pan Am groups’ involvement and interactions with the McLaughlinCommission can be seen as a precursor of sorts to the later 9/11 Commission.In July 1996, Vice President Al Gore appointed Cummock to serve on his White HouseAviation Safety and Security Commission. Gore selected Cummock to help the governmentdevelop counterterrorism measures in the wake of the then-unexplained explosion aboardTWA flight 800 earlier that same month (Roberts, 1997). Cummock herself also testifiedbefore the Gore Commission along with fellow commissioners Kathleen Flynn and GeorgeWilliams (who at the time was serving as president of VPAF 103), both parents of Pan Am103 victims (Office of the Vice President, 1996). A year later, however, Cummock filed suit infederal court against Gore and the Department of Transportation—despite the commission’srecommendations to reduce the vulnerability of commercial airports and carriers. Even thoughan exhaustive investigation concluded that the TWA 800 crash was not the result of a terroristattack, Cummock maintains that a bomb caused the explosion and that circumstances hadtherefore pressed the commission to impose tighter security procedures and standards than itwas prepared to recommend. In her lawsuit, she claims that the commission pressured her toabandon her efforts to strengthen aviation security on the grounds that it would impose unnecessarydelays and costs on the airlines. She also alleges that the other commissioners renegedon their promise to publish her 42-page dissent in the official report. Cummock’s frustrationstemmed in part from knowing that airline companies contributed nearly $500,000 to theDemocratic Party after President Bill Clinton created the commission, a fact that she insiststainted the findings of the final report (Roberts, 1997).As executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP), Hudson hasappeared before government commissions and subcommittees. A nonprofit organizationfounded by Ralph Nader in 1971, ACAP is a member of the FAA’s Aviation Security AdvisoryCommittee and advocates for travelers on issues involving international aviation. Accordingly,Hudson has focused his efforts on promoting safety precautions designed to prevent terrorismon commercial aircraft (Hudson, 2001a). In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he intensified