Yielding to the climate of criticism over the perks and privileges of high government officials, Secretary of State James A. Baker III will no longer use military aircraft for personal travel, which cost taxpayers more than $370,000 over two years.
State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said Baker had reacted with ”shock” when told the cost of the 11 trips, mainly to his hometown of Houston and to his Wyoming ranch. He decided to fly commercially on personal trips, beginning with a previously scheduled trip Friday.
To stay in telephone contact with Washington, which is a main justification for the costly use of military planes, Baker will carry a cellular phone.
Baker decided to take commercial flights, accompanied by a small security detail, as long as he receives no death threats and if there is no national emergency requiring that he have access to the most-sophisticated secure communications equipment, Tutwiler said. He discussed the issue with President Bush last week, she added.
Baker, known for his keen political instincts, clearly doesn`t want to get drawn into the finger-pointing between the White House and Congress over the privileges of Washington officialdom, where access to chauffeur-driven cars, government aircraft and other official perquisites have been prized as evidence of power and influence.
In a separate matter, the agency that manages the government`s non-military aircraft fleet has lost track of how many aircraft the government has and what they`re used for.
The inspector general`s office of the General Services Administration said it had no record of 237 federal aircraft it found registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the Associated Press. In addition, the report said four agencies that never told the GSA they owned any aircraft had 31 other registered planes.
The cost of Baker`s personal travel came to light after the General Accounting Office, responding to requests from Congress, reviewed State Department records. A draft of its findings was reported by the Milwaukee Journal.
Following last year`s controversy over the travels by then-White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, Bush tightened the rules on government officials` use of military aircraft for personal travel.
The secretaries of state and defense and the attorney general were exempted from the new restrictions because of their presumed need for protection and secure communications with the White House and government agencies. The practice of secretaries of state using military aircraft for personal travel goes back at least 15 years, Tutwiler said.
The GAO audit reportedly found that Baker`s travels cost $371,599 after reimbursements. Baker reimbursed the government for his personal flights based on a formula that calls for paying $1 more than full coach fare for comparable commercial flights. However, that falls far short of the approximately $4,000 per hour cost for the 14-seat Air Force C-20 jet that Baker has customarily used for his private travel.
Tutwiler said the reimbursements for Baker and his family members totaled $38,453.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will continue to use military aircraft for all his travel.
A Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Sam Grizzle, said Cheney is in the chain of command between the president and military forces that exercise control over the nation`s nuclear weapons and other warmaking capabilities, and ”that requires that he have secure communications at all times.”
