Cardona spent five years at the United States Department of Commerce , first as Deputy Press Secretary to Secretary Ronald H. Brown and in charge of the press offices of all the 14 agencies . Following the airplane crash into a mountainside in Croatia that killed Secretary Brown , Cardona was left to handle the live press briefing alone . She then went on to be the Press Secretary to Secretaries William Daley and Mickey Kantor . While there , she acted as Lead Communications Strategist for the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) in 1993 . In 1997 , she was awarded the Department of Commerce 's Silver Medal Award for Meritorious Federal Service
airplane crash into a mountainside in Croatia
1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash
Maria Cardona