25 Oct 2008

Top international military officials meet in Adirondacks

Men in military uniforms work around a Boeing 757 airplane with “United States of America” printed on its fuselage, parked at the Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear Friday.(Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)
By PETER CROWLEY, Enterprise Managing Editor(adirondack daily)
SARANAC LAKE - Powerful generals and admirals from some of the most powerful nations on Earth are reportedly meeting somewhere in the local area this weekend after flying into the Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear on Friday. Among the passengers of a large Boeing 757 airplane with "United States of America" printed on its fuselage were top members of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and their counterparts from France, Germany and another country, possibly Great Britain, according to Barry DeFuria, a town of Harrietstown councilman and Airport Committee member who was there when the plane landed. A top military delegation from Italy flew in on a separate Falcon airplane, DeFuria said. Town Supervisor Larry Miller, also on the Airport Committee, was also there and confirmed which nations' officials were on which planes, but he said he did not know what kind of officials they were or where they were going from the airport. He said he and DeFuria had to get security clearances to be present and that soldiers were guarding the 757 around the clock at the airport. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is the leadership council of the U.S. military, comprised of the top general or admiral of each branch of the armed services. Its current chairman is Admiral Michael Mullen.