Warnings not passed to RCMP headquarters: Air India probe

The RCMP unit responsible for co-ordinating airport security often wasn't tipped about threats and warnings that preceded the 1985 Air India bombing, the inquiry into the disaster heard Monday in Ottawa.
Former sergeant Joe MacDonald, who ran the airport policing branch at RCMP headquarters at the time, testified before the inquiry, which is looking into the investigation into the bombings that killed 329 people on Air India Flight 182 as it was en route from Canada to India on June 23, 1985.
MacDonald was questioned at length by commission lawyer Anil Kapoor, who reviewed a series of memorandums and Telexes sent at the time among various government and security agencies, including CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs, then called External Affairs.
MacDonald said he was surprised he didn't receive some of the documents, which included warnings of potential hijackings, airline bombings and suicide attacks.
One, dated August 1984, warned that Sikh extremists planned to blow up a Boeing plane leaving Montreal and London, England. MacDonald said he believes he should have received it, but never saw the warning, which was sent to other RCMP branches and CSIS.
"A certain amount of stuff was left to discretion," said MacDonald.
MacDonald, whose department only included two people at the time, was responsible for setting security levels at airports and monitoring RCMP branches at Canadian airports. MacDonald said he didn't leave his office in Ottawa to do the job, instead relying on feedback from the local branches.
He also told the inquiry that, for the entire month of June in 1985, Air India had Level 4 security — the second-highest level possible — at Toronto's Pearson Airport, where the flight originated. Such a level requires heightened security, including constant watch of passenger screening and the use of an explosives-sniffing dog.
14/05/07 CBC British Columbia, Canada

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Categories: Air India May 2007, Foreign May 2007, Safety May 2007