Benefits for ex-Air America workers to be studied

WASHINGTON — An amendment approved in the House late Thursday aims to lay groundwork for former employees of the CIA’s secret airline to collect government retirement benefits.

The amendment calls for the Director of National Intelligence to send Congress a study in four months on Air America, which flew missions over China, Korea, Laos and Vietnam from 1950 to 1976.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, the amendment’s sponsor, said she expects the study will further lift a veil of secrecy on the operation and clear a path for surviving workers to qualify for federal pensions.

“Unfortunately, since it was a closely held secret that Air America was a government-owned corporation, these men and women have never been credited for their government service,” Berkley said.

“That means they cannot receive government retirement benefits for their efforts,” she said.

The amendment by voice vote was attached to a bill reauthorizing intelligence programs.

Berkley and Sen. Harry Reid, both D-Nev., have taken up the cause of Air America pilots, mechanics and crew members, and widows of workers who have died.

A few of the estimated 500 former workers have retired to Las Vegas.

Some workers never were told the airline was owned by the CIA.

In previous years, the Nevada lawmakers attempted to qualify the Air America veterans for federal benefits, but the bills stalled. Questions were raised about cost, Berkley spokesman David Cherry said.

The new amendment calls for the intelligence director to calculate the difference between the benefits that workers received from Air America as a civilian front and how much they could get as former federal workers.