WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has reintroduced legislation that would recognize employees of Air America — a supposedly private air transport company that, in reality, was an instrument of the Central Intelligence Agency — as being eligible for federal retirement benefits.
The legislation was introduced with a Democratic co-sponsor, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, who also co-sponsored Rubio's 2020 legislative effort on behalf of former Air America employees.
The government-owned CIA front company operated from 1950 until 1976, through the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War, performing a variety of covert missions.
In an August interview with the Daily News, Bob Caron, a former Air America pilot in Vietnam, said the work was very hush-hush, with instructions to pilots and crew members often being little more than "go there, meet so-and-so, and do what he tells you."