    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [May 9, 1991]
    [Page 494]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 494]]

    White House Statement on the Administration's Revised Travel Policy
    May 9, 1991

        The President has directed the adoption of a new White House Policy
    on the use of military aircraft by the Chief of Staff and National
    Security Adviser, based upon the recommendations of Counsel to the
    President C. Boyden Gray. The new policy is designed to avoid any
    questions about their use of military aircraft.
        The President believes that the national security-related
                reasons behind the former policy remain sound and make
                commercial air travel an unacceptable alternative for the
                Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser in many
                instances.
        Nonetheless, to ensure that military aircraft are used only
                when necessary, the new policy will require the White House
                Counsel's Office to review on a case-by-case basis all
                requests for travel on military aircraft.
        In the case of official travel, use of military aircraft
                will be authorized where security, communications, or
                scheduling needs require the use of military aircraft.
        In the case of personal travel, the President has decided
                that not only must there be a determination that security,
                communications, or scheduling needs require use of military
                aircraft but also that there is an immediate and compelling
                need for personal travel. The policy would permit, for
                example, travel on military aircraft to attend to the
                serious illness of a close relative when security,
                communications, or scheduling needs would prevent travel on
                commercial aircraft.
        To avoid the appearance that taxpayer dollars are being used
                to subsidize political travel, the President has decided to
                prohibit political travel on military aircraft by the Chief
                of Staff and National Security Adviser unless the official
                purpose for travel is predominant or the President approves
                the travel.
        For mixed official and political travel or mixed official
                and personal travel, the policy allows the use of military
                aircraft for predominantly official travel if security,
                communications, or scheduling needs require the use of
                military aircraft. To ensure that there is no question about
                the official purpose behind any trip, the Counsel's Office
                will be required to make a determination that a trip is
                predominantly official before the trip will be treated as
                official.
        The current reimbursement policy for all nonofficial travel
                is being retained. The Chief of Staff and National Security
                Adviser will be required to reimburse the Government at
                commercial coach rates plus one dollar any time that they
                travel on military aircraft for personal or political
                reasons. Where the Chief of Staff or National Security
                Adviser take an official trip and also engage in an
                incidental political activity on the trip, some part of
                commercial coach fare will be charged to the sponsor of the
                political event.
        The new policy does not apply to those members of the
                Cabinet (including specifically the Secretary of State, the
                Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General) who,
                pursuant to longstanding policies, regularly use Government
                aircraft for official and unofficial travel. The
                responsibilities of these Cabinet members are such that they
                require instantaneous secure communications capability with
                the White House, their Departments, other Agencies, and the
                Congress. In an emergency, they must also be able to return
                to Washington, or to proceed to other destinations, on an
                expedited basis. These Cabinet members also have a
                heightened need for security because the nature of their
                official duties and their public visibility substantially
                increase the likelihood of threats to their personal safety.