[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.