Posted on 05/31/2004 4:51:50 PM PDT by wagglebee
They stick out like sore thumbs -- Federal Air Marshals complain.
The marshalls say that's a threat to their own and passenger security.
An intelligence brief quoted by the Los Angeles Times recalled an incident when two air marshals were spotted by a passenger coming down the aisle who said "Oh, I see we have air marshals on board!"
This is something that happens all too often, the marshals say, insisting that the element of surprise may be crucial to their mission.
But in a complaint to Congress, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assn. said they are "as easy to identify as a uniformed police officer."
What makes them stand out, they say, is the clothes they wear and the way they access the aircraft to which they are assigned.
Regulations require marshals to go to work wearing a suit and tie or sport coat, collared shirt, dress slacks and dress shoes. Equivalent attire is required for female air marshals. This in an era when passengers arrive aboard wearing shorts, jeans and even less informal attire and sporting beards and scraggly hair cuts.
According to the Times, Federal Air Marshal Service spokesman David M. Adams told them that personal appearance was important: "Professional demeanor, attire and attitude gain respect. If a guy pulls out a gun and he's got a tattoo on his arm and [is wearing] shorts, I'm going to question whether he's a law enforcement officer."
Marshals can't go through the initial security screening with the rest of the passengers because they are armed. They are forced to use exit lanes, the Times explained. Instead of using the entry points set aside for airport employees, the marshals often must go through the "exit" lanes - marching against the flow of arriving passengers, at times in full view of travelers.
"Everybody sees you standing there," one marshal said. "Everybody sees you show your ID. They see you are being escorted through an exit lane, bypassing security."
John Amat, a spokesman for the marshals belonging to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association told the Times, "They lose the advantage" of being undercover.
One marshal complained to the Times that "a bad guy on a plane can quickly narrow the pool of potential marshals. They're not wearing jeans, they're not wearing cargo pants... There will not be an air marshal who is unshaven. You eliminate the unknown element."
At Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, the Daily Telegram in Superior, Wisconsin reported that air marshals are required to follow procedures "so absurd that airline passengers could figure out who they were."
It is, the newspaper noted "... a situation that points out the often ridiculous nature of government bureaucracies, in this case the Transportation Security Administration created to help prevent terrorism attacks.
Special Exit Lane
At checkpoints for arriving passengers, screeners can be seen leading the agents up an exit lane to a table where they have to sign in, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The TSA's procedures required air marshals and other plainclothes officers to show identification and sign in at each security checkpoint, and it wasn't exclusive to Mitchell Airport.
The Journal Sentinel cited a letter from Frank Terreri, president of the air marshals unit of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, to the director of the Federal Air Marshals Service in October about the requirement to sign in: "This is done in plain view of passengers transiting through these screening checkpoints. It is obvious that even a novice surveillance agent could sit near a checkpoint and determine who, what and where these logged individuals are and their destination."
Although forbidden to talk to the media, some of the marshals spoke to the Times, noting that the prospect of being spotted by terrorists and disabled or killed before they could react makes them uneasy.
"This is what I foresee," one marshal, a two-year veteran confided to the newspaper. "Two of us get on the plane and we've been under surveillance the whole time. There's a minimum of four bad guys... My partner goes to the bathroom and they come after me with a sharp pen, stab me in the neck or in the brain and take my weapon," he continued. "When my partner comes out, they shoot him. Then they've got 80 rounds of ammunition and two weapons."
Although spokesman Adams called such a scenario "highly unlikely," noting that marshals "are not undercover like Serpico," a congressional General Accounting Office study of a two-year period from 2001 to 2003 found an average of about one case a week in which marshals reported their cover was blown.
Secret Service Look
The controversial dress code is the work of Thomas D. Quinn, the director of the air marshals, who took over in January 2002.
Quinn, the Times reported, spent 20 years with the Secret Service. He was the focus of heavy criticism when he lobbied against a bill designed to broaden the law arming airline pilots.
Before the 9/11 attacks, the air marshal service had about 30 officers. Today it has several thousand, with an annual budget of $600-million.
And, some marshals told the Times, it was after Quinn took over that the strict rules on dress and grooming were instituted, including the ban on beards, long hair and jeans.
"Secret Service people are notoriously known for being snappy dressers," Capt. Steve Luckey, security chairman for the Air Line Pilots Assn told the Times.
The marshals have petitioned Congress for help in changing the rules, but in the meantime, some air marshals have found ways to adapt. One told the newspaper that he deliberately acts as the more visible member of his team. He walks down the jet way before the passengers. If someone stares at him, he stares back. By becoming the focus of attention, he figures he's helping protect his partner's anonymity.
"If they come after me first, he might be able to save my bacon," said the marshal. "At least one guy may be able to do something to defend the aircraft."
That's what I think too. If there is a cop in my bank, is it more or less likely to be robbed? I say less.
I say it's the buzzcuts.
After all, if one is on a flight, say, to Honolulu, who would wear a suit coat?
OK, let me get this strait, the "FLAT TOP" is no longer appropriate to covert operations?
If there is a large group of well trained terrorists, it would be easy for them to overwhelm the marshalls and take their guns...
Makes it kind of easy for'em to get weapons on board of a plane!
Great idea, but unfortunately, President Bush opposes the idea, so it ain't gonna' happen, regardless of what the law allows.
wrong.its happening
Sounds like the way I dress when I fly. I hope nobody mistakes me an air marshal. Unless there are some ladies with a "thing" for air marshals.
This actually just answered a question for me. Last week while going through security at the airport a group of "business men and women" walked right past my family and up to the x-ray machine. Frankly I was mithed and wondering what was so special that these folks got to "cut" in line with their carry ons etc. Now I have my answer...they must have been air marshals. It all fits together now. Thanks for the post.
You ain't worried about blood clots, are ya???
No, it's not. Only 200 out of 14,000 so far.
Most "crew" dont have to wait in line the go up front and put there stuff on the belt........Personally I would like them to be on time and dont mind the line cutting.....
A gun in every cockpit...............
By standing out they definitely kêp the plane they are on safe. Terrorists are not going to take on extra trouble if they want to hijack a plane.
Lady "terrorists" maybe...but then decoys dressed up like Marshals would be a good diversion for the terrs....
Maybe the Marshals could dress in drag or like nuns ....
Your statement was Wrong....you said "none".None is Zero and 200 out of 14,000 is not none
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.