LAKE PLACID - Powerful generals and admirals from five of the most powerful nations on Earth met this weekend at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid 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.
Security was tight Saturday night at the Whiteface Lodge, where the military officials were staying, according to three separate sources who asked to remain anonymous to protect their jobs.
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.
Harrietstown Supervisor Larry Miller, who is on the town's Airport Committee with DeFuria and was also there when the U.S. plane landed, 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, which is owned and run by the town of Harrietstown.
