Editing Norman Mineta (section)

====September 11 attacks====
Mineta's testimony to the [[9/11 Commission]] about his experience in the [[Presidential Emergency Operations Center]] with [[Vice President Cheney]] as [[American Airlines Flight 77]] approached [[the Pentagon]] was not included in the [[9/11 Commission Report]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Zarembka | first = Paul | title = The Hidden History of 9-11-2001 | publisher = JAI Press / Elsevier Ltd. | year = 2006 | location = Amsterdam, the Netherlands | page = 246 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o9jo_In37aEC&pg=PA246 | isbn = 978-0-7623-1305-1 }}</ref> In one [[Colloquy (law)|colloquy]] testified by Mineta, the vice president refers to orders concerning the plane approaching the Pentagon:

{{blockquote|text=There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, "The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to, "The plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the vice president, "Do the orders still stand?" And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?" Well, at the time I didn't know what all that meant. |author=Norman Mineta |source=[[9/11 Commission]]<ref name="Commission_Hearing">{{cite web | year =2003 | url =http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing2/9-11Commission_Hearing_2003-05-23.htm | title =  Public Hearing | publisher =National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States | access-date =2006-12-16}}</ref>}}

Commissioner [[Lee H. Hamilton|Lee Hamilton]] queried if the order was to shoot down the plane, to which Mineta replied that he did not know that specifically.<ref name="Commission_Hearing"/>

Mineta's testimony to the commission on Flight 77 differs somewhat significantly from the account provided in the January 22, 2002, edition of ''[[The Washington Post]]'', as reported by [[Bob Woodward]] and [[Dan Balz]] in their series "10 Days in September".

{{Blockquote|text='''9:32 a.m.'''

The Vice President in Washington: Underground, in Touch With Bush

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, summoned by the White House to the bunker, was on an open line to the Federal Aviation Administration operations center, monitoring Flight 77 as it hurtled toward Washington, with radar tracks coming every seven seconds. Reports came that the plane was 50 miles out, 30 miles out, 10 miles out—until word reached the bunker that there had been an explosion at the Pentagon.

Mineta shouted into the phone to Monte Belger at the FAA: "Monte, bring all the planes down." It was an unprecedented order—there were 4,546 airplanes in the air at the time. Belger, the FAA's acting deputy administrator, amended Mineta's directive to take into account the authority vested in airline pilots. "We're bringing them down per pilot discretion," Belger told the secretary.

"Fuck pilot discretion," Mineta yelled back. "Get those goddamn planes down."

Sitting at the other end of the table, Cheney snapped his head up, looked squarely at Mineta and nodded in agreement.|author=Dan Balz and Bob Woodward|source=''[[The Washington Post]]''<ref>{{cite news|title=America's Chaotic Road to War|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42754-2002Jan26_3.html|access-date=November 22, 2015|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 22, 2002}}</ref>}}

This same article reports that the conversation between Cheney and the aide occurred at 9:55 a.m., about 30 minutes later than the time that Mineta had cited (9:26 a.m.) during his testimony to the 9/11 Commission.

After hearing of Mineta's orders, Canadian transport minister [[David Collenette]] issued orders to ground all civilian aircraft traffic across Canada, resulting in [[Operation Yellow Ribbon]]. On September 21, 2001, Mineta sent a letter to all US airlines forbidding them from practicing [[racial profiling]] or subjecting [[Middle East]]ern or [[Muslim]] passengers to a heightened degree of pre-flight scrutiny. He stated that it was illegal for the airlines to discriminate against passengers based on race, color, national or ethnic origin, or religion. Subsequently, administrative enforcement actions were brought against three airlines based on alleged infringements of these rules, resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements. Mineta voiced his intention to "absolutely not" implement racial screenings in a ''[[60 Minutes]]'' interview just after 9/11. He later recalled his decision "was the right thing [and] constitutional" based on his own experience as a member of those who had "lost the most basic human rights" as a result of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.<ref name=KenWatanabe/>

The [[San Jose International Airport]] in San Jose was named after Mineta in November 2001 while he was serving as Secretary of Transportation.<ref name="sjc_history">{{cite web|url=http://www.flysanjose.com/fl/about.php?page=history/timeline&subtitle=Timeline|title=Mineta San José International/Silicon Valley Airport – About SJC – Timeline|quote=2001 – City Council approves naming the airport to "Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport" in honor of the former Mayor and long-term Congressman.|access-date=September 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821180157/http://www.flysanjose.com/fl/about.php?page=history%2Ftimeline&subtitle=Timeline|archive-date=August 21, 2012}}</ref> The [[Mineta Transportation Institute]], located at [[San Jose State University]], and portions of [[California State Highway 85]] are named after him.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nbc11.com/news/17478138/detail.html | title=Freeway dedicated in honor of Norman Mineta | date=September 15, 2008 | access-date=September 15, 2008 | publisher=[[KNTV]] NBC Bay Area }}</ref><ref name="caltran">{{cite book|publisher=[[California Department of Transportation]]|title=2007 Named Freeways|date=May 2008|page=37|url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf|first1=Arnold|last1=Schwarzenegger|author-link1=Arnold Schwarzenegger|first2=Dale E.|last2=Bonner|first3=Will|last3=Kempton|access-date=September 10, 2012|archive-date=May 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523161116/http://dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[White House Press Secretary]] [[Tony Snow]] announced on June 23, 2006, that Mineta would resign effective July 7, 2006, because "he wanted to." A spokesman said Mineta was "moving on to pursue other challenges." He left office as the longest-serving Secretary of Transportation in history.<ref>{{cite web | year =2006 | url =https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060623-9.html | title = President's Statement on Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta | publisher =White House | access-date =June 24, 2006}}</ref>