In the "Things That Make You Go Hmmmmmmmmm" category...
(NOTE: Haven't been on DU for a couple days, so I hope this isn't a dupe. Took a look around and couldn't find reference to the story here. My apologies if this is a dupe!)
WASHINGTON -- Air traffic controllers who handled two of the hijacked flights on Sept. 11, 2001, recorded their experiences shortly after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center but a supervisor destroyed the tape, government investigators said Thursday
A report by Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead said the manager for the New York-area air traffic control center asked the controllers to make the recordings a few hours after the crashes in belief they would be important for law enforcement.
Investigators never heard it. Sometime between December 2001 and February 2002, an unidentified Federal Aviation Administration quality assurance manager crushed the cassette case in his hand, cut the tape into small pieces and threw them away in multiple trash cans, the report said.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-sept-11-controllers,0,6336834,print.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines