February 13, 2008

Washington D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid led the Senate passage of the 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act conference report, which includes a provision to provide federal retirement benefits to former Air America employees for their service to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before 1977.“Those who honorably served Air America played a key role in the Vietnam War and were vital to numerous missions” said Reid.  “I’m pleased that we worked in a bipartisan fashion to help these individuals get one step closer to receiving the retirement benefits they deserve.”Air America, a passenger and cargo airline, acquired by the CIA in 1950, flew missions for the CIA into the 1970's.  Since then, former employees of Air America and related companies have sought to obtain retirement benefits for their service to our country.  Unable to obtain the benefits they deserve through the court system, the former employees of Air America requested congressional assistance to help them obtain federal civil service retirement benefits.

•  
• A provision in the bill being sent to the president today instructs the Director of National Intelligence to report on the retirement benefits for former employees of Air America.
•