3

TWICE AS FAR

SWISSAIR 111

CRASH INVESTIGATION

- ILLEGAL ACTIONS -

CHANGE THE NOTES

NEIL FRASER'S NOTES

The abbreviations in the notes indicate the speaker of those particular lines

and they are as follows:

LF - Superintendent Lee Fraser

He was the commissioned officer in charge of all RCMP Forensic Identification members in the country.

His main responsibility dealt with overall standards and techniques.

While he had no influence on my daily activities,

he was at the top of the chain of command for field Ident Services

and could decide whether or not I remained in Forensic Ident.

Lee Fraser, before he transferred to Ottawa for his promotion,

had been the officer in charge of the RCMP's Atlantic Region Forensic Ident Sections.

Again, while not maintaining a direct influence over daily activities,

the position controlled standards and techniques within each Ident Section.

During the Swissair morgue,

he had been in charge of the morgue and victim identification process.

Because of the success of that operation,

he was promoted and transferred to Ottawa as a Superintendent.

AL - Inspector Andy Lathem

He was the commissioned officer in charge of the Major Crime Unit for the RCMP's Nova Scotia Division or 'H' Div.

He was also the officer in charge of the Swissair Task Force set up by the RCMP to look after this file.

As well he was in charge of several other operational functions in the Division,

in particular ERT (Emergency Response Team),

or what the American Police call SWAT.

He had ultimate influence on my daily activities in the hangar

as he was my 'line officer', or the officer to whom I reported,

even though my main working supervisor or task generator was

John Garstang of the TSB.

Lathem bragged about his potential promotion to the next rank or possibly a jump of two ranks.

VG - Staff Sergeant Vic Gorman -

He was a non-commissioned officer and the senior Forensic Ident member for the Swissair Task Force

while he was in the hangar and as such he was technically my immediate supervisor.

But he routinely was involved in his previous job with the Regional Forensic Ident Support Section, or RFISS.

Then once Lee Fraser transferred to Ottawa,

Gorman took over those duties on a temporary basis.

Gorman was seeking his commission to the officer rank.

That placed him in a very precarious position

in that he did not dare express any opinion contrary to Lathem's or the accepted policy for the file.

If he had done so, Lathem would have quashed any chance that he had for his commission.

NF - Staff Sergeant Neil Fraser

He was now the non-commissioned officer in charge of Gorman's previous section, RFISS,

and he worked out of the Halifax Crime Lab building which also housed the main Ident section.

However they are two separate entities.

By the time of this meeting, Gorman had transferred to Ottawa

and Neil Fraser had temporarily taken over as the officer in charge of the Regional Ident Services, or Lee Fraser's old job.

Neil was also seeking his commission to the officer rank.

Doing that, he too was dependent on the good word of Lathem and could never provide a counter opinion.

TJ - Sergeant Tom Juby

Reading the book provides sufficient information about my position in all of this.

PP - Cpl. Peter Purchase

He was the file manager for the Swissair Task Force, a position that was strictly administrative.

Peter learned what was happening on the file

only by reading was being passed to him either via computer entries or through written documentation,

or of course through word of mouth.

He was not an active investigator and he seldom went out of his office.

When he did, it was to learn what was happening regarding some specific area

which he then passed on to Lathem or Gorman.

Because of the material that I provided to the file after each trip or significant event,

Peter was aware of much of the material in my notes.

Because of the several conversations that we had,

he was fully aware of my opinions about the file

and the possible cause of the fire.

That information was passed up the chain of command to Gorman and Lathem,

something that was evident from the meetings that were held.

These are Neil Fraser's limited notes of the 'Change the Notes' meeting.

CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS

Neil Fraser got it wrong when I said 45% magnesium by weight percent instead of atomic percent.

I used the term atomic percent and not weight percent, but he wrote it the other way around.

Dr Brown only used atomic percent.

So 45% of the number of molecules at that location were magnesium.

One must realize,

even though it may not be apparent in Fraser's notes,

there was an extreme amount of intimidation going on in this meeting.

For me to have offered my opinion of Lathem

would have put me immediately on the hot seat to explain myself.

Because of the short notice, I could never have accomplished that task successfully.

As well, I was not sure of Lee Fraser's role in all of this.

Remember that even Chief Superintendent Duncan had gone over to the dark side

during the hangar meeting of 2000 MAY 03.

Had I expressed my true opinion of them,

Lathem and Fraser would have immediately pulled me from the file.

There was no way I could accuse them of anything at the time,

especially since it would be years before I would be able to collect and piece together all the clues.

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