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.”
Jacobsen was on O'Reilly show this week. She said all of the 14 Middle Easterners were traveling on expired visas.
This was discovered after they were let go.
Be more specific. Which hotel? Which casino? I don't think there are casinos in Los Angeles. Maybe these guys took a connecting flight to Las Vegas where they were scheduled to open for Linda Ronstadt.
Details, man, details.
It is beginning to look like passengers will have to start taking matters into their own hands from now on.
If the air marshals won't do their jobs, we may have to do it for them.
If you see an Arab acting strangely like this and nothing is done, beat up the bastard.
Well, someone tap them on the shoulder and tell them our guy's been in command for 4 years. It's time to get with the program.
indeed, that's the Democrats model for dealing with the war on terror. let the terrorists crash planes into buildings, but then make sure that the firemen that get sent in have good radios.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/25/wfly25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/25/ixworld.html
Whatever happened during the flight from Detroit to Los Angeles last month, Clinton W. Taylor, a local reporter in Stanford, has at least confirmed that a Syrian band did perform at the Sycuan Casino and Resort, near San Diego, on July 1 to support an Arab singer called Nour Mehana.
Mehana is no Osama bin Laden, but a Syrian balladeer with an uncanny resemblance to the Vegas crooner Wayne Newton. Concert promoters confirmed that some of his band had flown in on Northwest 327 but that the members did not remember anything unusual about the flight. Beyond that, the promoter said, he had been told by Homeland Security not to talk to the press.
i've got news for you - the air marshalls will start shooting the americans if that happens.
Well, that rules them out. We all know terrorists never have another profession as a cover, after all.
They were all pulled aside and interviewed after the flight.... That is likely when the comment took place. It wasn't just casually at baggage claim.
There is no fault in the Air Marshall's behavior here. Course FReepers will rip apart the attempts by ~anyone~ to perform the job of air security, no matter what they do or don't do.
If the TSA really wanted to protect people they would not let any arabs on any flight.
These days your best defense is to avoid flying whenever possible. For distances less than 1000 miles, it's faster to drive.
If you have to fly, observe people in the waiting area. If you see lots of arabs ask the airline folks to be moved to a later flight. Tell them why. When enough people start doing this, maybe things will change.
Remember islamic arabs want us dead. Their religion says they go to heaven if they die while killing infidels.
Wow!
Did you nail it!
(And didn't Ms. Jacobsen report a variety of suspicious activity by the Islamic Swine? How come this article doesn't bother to deal with any specific Jacobsen allegations except that there were lots of Muslims on the flight?)
ML/NJ
No wonder they were complaining about the dress code then, if anonymity is the ONLY advantage and they don't even have that!
I thought their tactical advantage was a Glock under their jacket. ?????
At least they would start earning their pay by doing something other than enjoying the flight...
You could be right, although the story is unclear on how this conversation came about. Based upon what's here it appears impossible to know what gave away the marshal's ID.
I guess they did pass the smell test after all.
What happened to the "please stay remain your seat, while in flight." Unless you're going to the bathroom. These guys were all over the aisles.
"Course FReepers will rip apart the attempts by ~anyone~ to perform the job of air security, no matter what they do or don't do."
Certainly they have a thankless job,if they do succeed we probably don't hear about it.On the other hand,our federal government has one real job and they failed so miserably at it in regard to 9/11/01 that I see no problem with folks questioning how they go about it now.
If the air marshals would simply say that she overreacted, instead of launching into a diatribe in this article calling her a person endangering the aircraft by simply being concerned, I would be more sympathetic.
I am not sympathetic to them as it stands. They are extremely selfish people.
I am waiting for an article to refute her charges of them standing up at the end of the flight etc. No person has yet to prove her descriptions of their actions to be false.
If that occurs, I will concede she overreacted.
Not until then.
Anyone remember "The Blues Brothers?" The Blues Brothers Band talked their way into a "gig" that they didn't have by just driving up to a bar and pretending that they were the band that was supposed to play that night. The bar owner had never seen the real band before, so he let the Blues Brothers play. Couldn't these Syrians have just called a casino, booked hotel rooms, and found out what band was playing that night and told the authorities they were that band? The authorities may have only checked out their hotel reservations and the name of the band. As the 9/11 Commission report says, we have a continual failure of imagination in the U.S. It is very easy to imagine how this group of Syrians could concoct such a story and the FBI fail to fully check it out. Unless I see reports of FBI agents actually seeing this "band" playing in that casino, and seeing an actual check written to them from the hotel manager, I don't believe any of this cockamamie story.
save for later BUMP
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