00-08-03          0700    Morning routine.  …..

Also had a discussion with John GARSTANG about QUINTIERE.  He is uncertain now if he will be able to use him.  Apparently, FOGG had mentioned to him to check if he had been hired by any of the companies to consult in this matter.  John feels it is likely that Swissair has hired him (in conjunction with Boeing), and this negates his chances of using him.  QUINTIERE has been hired in the past by the FAA to conduct the thin film tests and is the ‘world expert’ in the subject.  There is no one else with as much knowledge in the matter and is the logical choice to use as a resource person for this investigation.  I asked John why he was concerned with the civil litigation when we do not investigate matters for the civil side (at least it is not the prime intention for doing the work, albeit an offshoot).  I asked him what was to stop him from hiring him as an ‘agent of the Crown’ to assist in the investigation into the crash for the TSB, and to include in his contract a clause that he is not to use any of the information gained from his work as an agent of the Crown for the benefit of any of the companies.  This would not however preclude him from working for any one of the companies at a later date, so long as he re-investigates the matter for them.  Any problems that arise in civil court from doing that would have to be argued out at that time, but they certainly would not be our problems, as we would already have used his expertise.  We use insurance adjusters and investigators all the time for house and industry fires investigations, and the civil matters take a back seat, to be settled later.  He agreed that this was certainly a possibility.

(Clarification:)    Dr. Quintiere would never step foot in the hangar.  Why would the TSB hire such a knowledgeable person when it was obvious he would find that the fire load insufficient to cause the damage that was done?  TSB management did not want those results, so why enlist his services?