Government privatising the Airport.

And he repeated his call in the Senate on Wednesday for a ports authority to be set up to run the airport in the event of the US military pulling out of Bermuda.

Sen. Scott said there could be serious ramifications for Bermuda if last night's Prime Time Live report embarrassed the Clinton administration into taking a closer look at the US Naval Air Station's value to US national security.

And he claimed there is a special task force in Washington DC investigating NAS-Bermuda, which could also have serious results for the Island.

Sen. Scott said it was his information that "certain abuses'' were going on at the Base, including failure to investigate reported sexual assaults, junkets -- where navy top brass fly to Bermuda for golf and fun with their families or girlfriends -- and abuses of military equipment.

"Right now the airport is controlled and maintained by the US military,'' he said. "We don't expect them to leave Bermuda abruptly. But we also don't expect them, in this particular climate, to carry Bermuda - especially if they are embarrassed by media reports.'' he said.

Sen. Scott added: "Bermuda should at the very least be laying the groundwork now to prepare for a pull-out. We should be training Bermudians to run the airport. We don't want to, as (Government leader in the Senate) Sen. Mike Winfield said, wait for America to withdraw first.'' Sen. Winfield told the Senate, however, that the Island would not be caught unprepared in the event of a pull out. There were two committees looking at theoretical ways of dealing with such a problem if it arose, he told senators.

Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall said yesterday a quango was only one of the options being explored by his Air Advisory Committee.

He said nothing was definite yet.

The report of that committee, chaired by chartered accountant Mr. Charles Kempe, is in draft form and should be made public soon.

Sen. Scott said he was against quango option because it might end up costing the taxpayer more if something went wrong and the Government had to step in to rescue it.

He also feared non-Bermudians would be hired to staff a privately-run airport.