government Archives - Page 84 of 93

The Airport Opening That Was Called Off

Berlin’s new airport, BER, was due to open on 3 June 2012. On 8 May 2012, four weeks before that date, the opening was called off because of problems with the fire protection system. Terminal 1 finally opened on 31 October 2020.

Files examined by the Berlin parliament’s inquiry show that it had been clear inside the airport company since the end of 2011 at the latest that the date was in danger. In March 2012, McKinsey wrote to the management that a delay of almost four months ist bis zur Inbetriebnahme nicht aufzuholen, could not be made up before opening. According to an internal email, the managing director Manfred Körtgen wanted the word äußerst, extremely, removed from the critical paths in a controlling report. Körtgen later told the committee that he did not remember giving that instruction. A member of the supervisory board later said: Auf jeden Fall wurden wir falsch informiert. (In any case, we were given false information.)

Seiters Resigns

On 27 June 1993, a police operation at the railway station of Bad Kleinen went wrong. A GSG 9 officer and a terrorist of the Red Army Faction died. Federal Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters took political responsibility and resigned on 4 July 1993.

The Car Toll

Under Andreas Scheuer, the Federal Transport Ministry awarded the contracts for a German car toll in October and December 2018. On 18 June 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled that the toll broke EU law. After a settlement with the operator, the failed toll cost taxpayers 243 million euros. In December 2023, an expert opinion found that a damages claim against Scheuer had only small chances of success, and the ministry did not sue. In the same decision the ministry called his political responsibility undisputed.

The Incident Command System

Developed after the California wildfires of the 1970s, when agencies arriving at the same fire could not talk to each other, and now the national standard for every kind of US emergency response. Its core is a defined communications structure: who reports to whom, on what channel, in what format, before anyone arrives.

Root cause: communication

American accident investigation keeps arriving at the same answer. The NTSB on Tenerife and United 173, hospital sentinel event reviews, military after-action reports, engineering failure analyses. The finding is rarely that nobody knew. It is that somebody knew and it did not travel.

Brady v. Maryland

The Supreme Court held in 1963 that a prosecutor must turn over evidence favourable to the accused, whether or not the defence has asked for it. The obligation falls on the party holding the information, and it runs against that party’s own interest in winning. Failure to disclose can void a conviction years later.

Miranda

Since 1966, American police have been required to inform a person in custody of their rights before questioning — including the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. The suspect does not have to ask. Evidence obtained without the warning can be excluded.

The jury

Twelve ordinary citizens, selected at random, with no training in law, decide questions of fact — and in the United States they do so in civil cases as well as criminal ones, far more often than in any comparable system. The verdict is not reviewable on the facts. The credentialed authority in the room instructs on the law and then waits.

The buck stops here

Truman kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office reading exactly that, and used the phrase repeatedly to describe the presidency. The buck is passed, in American usage, from one person to another. The sign announces where the passing ends — at a named individual, in a specific room.

Pro se

Americans represent themselves in court in substantial numbers, and the courts accommodate it. Small claims courts are designed for it, often barring lawyers outright. The premise is that an ordinary person can conduct their own case against another party, and that the system should make that possible rather than discourage it.