Meeting Next Month In Las Vegas

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) says Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for the TSA, David M. Stone, and journalist Fred Barnes will be the featured keynote speakers for the opening session of the NBAA's 57th Annual Meeting & Convention. The event runs from October 12 to October 14 in Las Vegas (NV). NBAA President and CEO Edward M. Bolen also will speak during the Opening General Session as that event's host.

More than 30,000 people are expected at the NBAA 57th Annual Meeting & Convention, which will feature over 1,050 Exhibiting Companies and 89 static aircraft.

The Opening General Session will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 12 in Las Vegas Convention Center Room N245/N246/N247, located above the Central Lobby. A continental breakfast will be served from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

David M. Stone, Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.)

David M. Stone was nominated to be assistant secretary of homeland security for the TSA by President Bush on April 8, 2004, and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate on July 22. He is the lead Bush Administration line official responsible for aviation security. The TSA includes a budget of approximately $4.4 billion and more than 40,000 employees.

Rear Admiral Stone had served as acting administrator of the TSA since December 4, 2003, and had been deputy chief of staff in TSA Headquarters since August 2003. He was selected for that position from a field assignment as the TSA's first federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. During that assignment, he led the local effort to mobilize, train and deploy the largest federalized screener work force in the United States, a monumental effort completed two weeks before the required deadline. The airport also implemented the 100-percent electronic checked-baggage screening program, screening in excess of 150,000 items per day.

As a career naval officer, Rear Admiral Stone retired from active duty in April 2002. He began his naval career in 1974, as a graduate of the US Naval Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He also holds a Master of Science in management from Salve Regina College; a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport (RI); and a Master of Arts in national security affairs from the US Naval Postgraduate School.

Fred Barnes

With more than 20 years of reporting on Washington politics, Fred Barnes will offer an insider's look at the presidency and Congress during his presentation.

Barnes currently is executive editor of The Weekly Standard. From 1985 to 1995, he served as senior editor and White House correspondent for The New Republic. He covered the Supreme Court and the White House for the Washington Star before moving on to the Baltimore Sun in 1979, where he served as the national political correspondent. He also wrote the Presswatch media column for the American Spectator.

Additionally, Barnes is host, along with Mort Kondracke, of The Beltway Boys on the Fox News Channel, and he appears regularly on Fox's Special Report with Brit Hume. From 1988 to 1998 he was a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group. He also has appeared on Nightline, Meet the Press, Face the Nation and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

FMI: www.nbaa.org/conventions/2004