Posted on 01/21/2005 3:09:21 AM PST by conservative in nyc
Hundreds of federal air marshals were grounded and unable to access critical information to pinpoint potential terrorist activity for eight hours on the eve of President Bush's inauguration after snow paralyzed the Mission Operations Center in Washington, said several air marshals and a supervisor.
The marshals said they could not reach the Mission Operations Center (MOC) by telephone to be placed on other flights after hundreds of flights were rerouted because of the snow, and marshals seeking information on reports of a dirty bomb in Boston were unsuccessful.
"They were flying blind," said the supervisor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "An inch of snow shut down the Federal Air Marshals system's [ability] to gather, receive or request information."
"It basically put the entire aviation security system and flying public at risk because the air marshals were not able to properly do their jobs," the supervisor said.
The supervisor said MOC sent out a message at about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday that the "system was shut down and they were not answering phones or anything" because they did not have enough staff working.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Is there some reason why the WnTimes feels the need to let the enemy know our vulnerability?
"Is there some reason why the WnTimes feels the need to let the enemy know our vulnerability?"
I was thinking the same thing!!!!
LOL! Sure it did! NOT!
Or somewhere better able to deal with weather extremes.
You'd think the Mission Operations Center would be, um.... mission critical.
The senior leadership of the FAM has been getting a lot of bad press recently about many things. Seem clueless rather than feckless. Dress code, hours, and retention have been the biggest issues I have seen. Then again, they are bureaucrats, so they are behaving according to type.
Good thing the Democrats arent in charge. This might have turned into a natural disaster!
Looks like things went off pretty well yesterday.
Sounds like another good reason to allow pilots to carry firearms. You know they are going to be there. If the plane takes off, there is usually a good chance that there's a pilot aboard, even if the air marshals are not.
People in Washington are terrified of snow. Why this hysteria should obtain, I don't know. Half the people here are from the north. Even the natives have lived with snow all their lives; it's not as if this was Georgia or Florida, which rarely sees a real snow and might not expect its citizens to handle the white stuff confidently.
Meanwhile, the fed gov continues to drag its heals on needed improvements to the program to arm pilots.
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