Posted on 07/24/2004 4:05:17 PM PDT by HostileTerritory
Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, “overreacted,” to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS.
The passenger, later identified as Annie Jacobsen, was in danger of panicking other passengers and creating a larger problem on the plane, according to a source close to the secretive federal protective service.
Jacobsen, a self-described freelance writer, has published two stories about her experience at womenswallstreet.com, a business advice web site designed for women.
“The lady was overreacting,” said the source. “A flight attendant was told to tell the passenger to calm down; that there were air marshals on the plane.”
The middle eastern men were identified by federal agents as a group of touring musicians travelling to a concert date at a casino, said Air Marshals spokesman Dave Adams.
Jacobsen wrote she became alarmed when the men made frequent trips to the lavatory, repeatedly opened and closed the overhead luggage compartments, and appeared to be signaling each other.
“Initially it was brought to [the air marshals] attention by a passenger,” Adams said, adding the agents had been watching the men and chose to stay undercover.
Jacobsen and her husband had a number of conversations with the flight attendants and gestured towards the men several times, the source said.
“In concert with the flight crew, the decision was made to keep [the men] under surveillance since no terrorist or criminal acts were being perpetrated aboard the aircraft; they didn’t interfere with the flight crew,” Adams said.
The air marshals did, however, check the bathrooms after the middle-eastern men had spent time inside, Adams said.
FBI agents met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles and the men were questioned, and Los Angeles field office spokeswoman Cathy Viray said it’s significant the alarm on the flight came from a passenger.
“We have to take all calls seriously, but the passenger was worried, not the flight crew or the federal air marshals,” she said. “The complaint did not stem from the flight crew.”
Several people were questioned, she said, but no one was detained.
Jacobsen’s husband Kevin told KFI NEWS he approached a man he thought was an air marshal after the flight had landed.
“You made me nervous,” Kevin said the air marshal told him.
“I was freaking out,” Kevin replied.
“We don’t freak out in situations like this,” the air marshal responded.
Federal agents later verified the musicians’ story.
“We followed up with the casino,” Adams said. A supervisor verified they were playing a concert. A second federal law enforcement source said the concert itself was monitored by an agent.
“We also went to the hotel, determined they had checked into the hotel,” Adams said. Each of the men were checked through a series of databases and watch-lists with negative results, he said.
The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.
Air marshals’ only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.
“They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings,” spokesman Adams confirmed, “to make sure it isn’t a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover.”
okay.... I get it, I guess. Good night.
Do any of you dismissing these events as essentially nothing disagree with this statement ? :
"If these guys had been white boys in T-shirts they would have been told to sit down when the plane was landing and to stop being disruptive."
Good night. I do underand where you are coming form...but I just think we should be doing more to protect this country. I don't ever want to see Americans jumping out of buildings because it's better than burning alive. You know when I saw the people jumping..I tried to get a better look in order to see if it was my brother. Thanks for the spirited discussion.
My adult son has a 12th century 3 ball morning star mace hanging off of his IV/feeding bag pole.
8ft away is a fan we keep in an open window as his machines keep the room to hot during the summer.
Now typically I sleep during the day so if anyone thinks of poking their head in the window which also has a table in front of it like the hosp. bedside table with all his suction machine nebulizer and other resp. cleaning stuff ect.
Long story short I would konk anyone in the head with all my might trying to come through the window. The morning star mace is a leathel weapon and no one notices it hanging off the IV pole.
Damned if you do, and as we have seen with the so called 911 commission report, damned if you don't! No one overreacted here, but perhaps there are many who underreacted!
I guess the question that makes as much sense is, if the Air Marshalls had wrestled them all to the ground or shot people who turned out to be innocent, just for standing up, would you defend them then? Or would you have been bitching about jack booted thugs?
The thing is, it was checked out, and turned out to be nothing that was actionable. I am not sure what those that are shouting for ~something~ really want.
Here is a pretty good evaluation of the flight, with their conclusion that it was not a dry run, but that "Given the information they were working with at the time, almost everyone should have reacted differently than they did."
"evidently no one even engaged these guys in a conversation, and no one, not the flight crew, and not the air marshals, challenged their egregious violations of protocols about congregating near restrooms or standing up in unison as the plane started its descent. Nothing was done to alleviate the terror Jacobsen, and probably a lot of the other passengers, felt."
"The proven existence of this band confirms one of the last details of her story, and her story confirms some of our worst fears about airline security. The mindset of passengers, of the crew, and even of the law-enforcement personnel (Jacobsen said a flight attendant reassured her husband by pointing out that air marshals were on the flight), and decision makers higher up the ladder was reactive, not proactive."
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/taylor200407211921.asp
my note..even if it was proven to be a band could they not have been hired to check things out, (knowingly or otherwise?)
This is so "cold war 1960ish". The press just published multiple articles about how the air marshals dress code makes them stick out like a sore thumb and this "source" is still spouting last months talking point. I wouldn't want an air marshalls job working for these Einsteins.
Who says the passengers were being disruptive, or that they disobeyed instructions to remain seated while landing?
Not laws. but policy.
Ed Soliday testified to the 911 Commission:
"Immediately after TWA 800, we, as a company, talked with the FAA and said we are prepared to move forward with some security measures to ramp up because we don't know what caused this. The problem is -- and you can make light of it, if you like -- a citizen does not have the right to search and seize. There are privacy issues and, for example, as a company who was prepared to roll CAPPS out and did roll it out long before any other company, a visitor from the Justice Department who told me that if I had more than three people of the same ethnic origin in line for additional screening, our system would be shut down as discriminatory."
passengers must remain seated when the sign comes on such as when landing and cell phones are not allowed to be used until the plane has landed...
Ms. Jacobsen in her article says---
Finally, the captain announced that the plane was cleared for landing. It had been four hours since we left Detroit. The fasten seat belt light came on and I could see downtown Los Angeles. The flight attendants made one final sweep of the cabin and strapped themselves in for landing. I began to relax. Home was in sight. Terror in the Skies, Again? (continued)
Suddenly, seven of the men stood up -- in unison -- and walked to the front and back lavatories. One by one, they went into the two lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside. Right in front of us, two men stood up against the emergency exit door, waiting for the lavatory to become available. The men spoke in Arabic among themselves and to the man in the yellow shirt sitting nearby. One of the men took his camera into the lavatory. Another took his cell phone. Again, no one approached the men. Not one of the flight attendants asked them to sit down. I watched as the man in the yellow shirt, still in his seat, reached inside his shirt and pulled out a small red book. He read a few pages, then put the book back inside his shirt. He pulled the book out again, read a page or two more, and put it back. He continued to do this several more times.
So,now can you answer the question?
The *most* conspicuous thing missing is any interview with any of the "musicians"... Out of 14, surely at least *one* of them would accept an interview, or appear on TV, to clear themselves and/or express their feelings about being met by the feds when they landed (and incidentally get a lot of publicity for their band, which no musician in their right mind would pass up a chance at).
From what I've read...before 9-11, the air marshalls were a group of fairly competent folks. After 9-11 and the massive growth...they allowed in alot of folks who simply were not qualified for the job...whiners would be one term that comes to mind.
As for passenger reaction...homeland security is everyone's job. If I'm on a plane and sense a bad situation...I will began to take steps to correct "the situation". Most folks are that way now. Ossama and his boys may think we will just sit there like typical Germans or French...but they actually have a bold new type of crowd to deal with.
Yeah - I am sure that after 9-11, when the country was most incensed about losing another plane, it was mostly ~whiners~ that applied to be on the front line to meet the threat. Jeesh. Where do you guys get these ideas?
Again, this sort of non-story plays well with the DNC, and I am not sure why you are bringing race into the discussion, which also plays well with the DNC.
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