Debra Burlingame is the sister of Captain Charles “Chic” Burlingame, III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. She is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America (www.911familiesforamerica.org) and has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Sub-Committee on Transportation on the subject of pilot screening and terrorist travel.
Ms. Burlingame has written several feature articles for the Wall Street Journal on a variety of subjects, including the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency terrorist surveillance program, the connection between al Qaeda and the Saddam Hussein regime and the 9/11 Commission. Her June 7, 2005 piece, The Great Ground Zero Heist, about a controversial museum planned for the World Trade Center Memorial site, started a spontaneous popular movement resulting in the swift defeat of the 500 million dollar project which its opponents deemed an insult to the memory of those who perished on September 11, 2001.
Ms. Burlingame has appeared on The Today Show (NBC), The O’Reilly Factor (FOX), Fox & Friends (FOX), Your World with Neal Cavuto (FOX), Hannity & Colmes (FOX), Larry King Live (CNN), Paula Zahn Now (CNN), and Hardball with Chris Matthews (MSNBC). A frequent radio talk show guest, she has been profiled in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Burlingame was formerly a producer at Court TV where she covered dozens of civil and criminal legal proceedings ranging from the OJ Simpson trial and the Clinton impeachment hearings, to the Microsoft anti-trust case.
Ms. Burlingame has written pieces for broadcast on Constitutional appellate cases, consumer law, and legal news, and she helped launch a documentary series involving cold criminal cases. Prior to her career in television, she worked as a pro bono attorney in the family court system. Ms. Burlingame was a New York-based flight attendant with TWA for seven years.
Ms. Burlingame is a member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board of directors and lives in Westchester County, New York.
To view Debra Burlingame’s recent articles: CLICK HERE