Posted on 06/30/2009 7:19:09 PM PDT by DBrow
WASHINGTON - The Federal Air Marshal Service is a "useless" agency staffed with under-worked officers who make few arrests, a Tennessee congressman is charging.
U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., has taken to the House floor in recent days to ridicule the service as a "needless, useless agency" and argue that air marshals have "a cushy, easy job" that requires little more than sitting on a plane.
He also contends that the number of air marshals charged with committing crimes exceeds the number of arrests the agents themselves have made.
"I think they are doing almost no good at all," he said.
The air marshal service, which falls under the Transportation Security Administration, is a law enforcement agency that is probably best known for putting armed, undercover agents on selected flights to help thwart possible terrorist attacks or other hostile acts.
President George W. Bush ordered the program to be greatly expanded after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. Before 9/11, the agency had roughly 33 air marshals. Today, there are about 4,000, although the exact number is classified.
Megan Norris, an air marshal and spokeswoman for the agency, defended the program, which has a 2009 budget of about $820 million.
"Obviously, aviation is our primary mission, and since 9/11, we've had tens of thousands of flights that have flown successfully under our watchful eye," she said.
While it's a common belief that an air marshal's job consists only of sitting on a plane and flying back and forth across the country, that is a misperception, Norris said.
"We're there to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public, so it's our vigilance and our training that allows us to be ready to react should there be any type of threat or situation on a plane that could harm the passengers, the crew, the aircraft," she said.
The congressman, however, said arrest records show that air marshals do very little. Since 2001, the entire agency has averaged slightly over four arrests per year. That comes to about one a year per 1,000 employees and means the government is spending about $200 million per arrest, Duncan said.
"When we are so many trillions of dollars in debt -- a national debt of over $13 trillion -- we simply cannot afford to waste money in this way," he said.
Norris countered that arrests aren't a good way to measure the agency's success. Federal air marshals are trained to report suspicious activity to local law enforcement agencies, "so even in situations where an arrest would be appropriate, the majority of that is handled by the local law enforcement in whatever airport or location we are at," she said.
Duncan also pointed to news reports that said dozens of air marshals have been charged with crimes or accused of misconduct since 9/11, including drunken driving, domestic violence, human trafficking and attempting to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan.
Norris responded that the majority of air marshals are professionals who are dedicated to the job.
"We're out there ready to put our lives on the line to defend everybody on that aircraft and anybody else who could possibly be harmed, so it's disappointing to us when people choose to focus on that (misconduct)," she said.
Duncan stressed that he has never had any run-ins with an air marshal and said he doesn't even know anyone who works for the program. Regardless, he believes the government needs to be more reasonable in its security spending. He'd like to see the Air Marshal Service abolished, although he doesn't expect that to happen anytime soon.
"The problem is, nobody wants to vote against anything that has the word security attached to it," he said. "Well, we're going ridiculously overboard. Even if we spend the entire federal budget on security, we couldn't make life totally, completely safe."
On Wednesday, Duncan saw his contention proved right on the House floor. His amendment to freeze the agency's 2010 budget at the current level instead of giving it a proposed $40 million increase was shot down by a vote of 294-134 as the House wrestled with, and later approved, the program's $860 million budget for next year as part of the broader spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
"I just think this $860 million that we are about to appropriate for them would be much better spent on almost anything that you can think of," he said. "There are hundreds of other good things, maybe even thousands, that money could be spent on. I just think it's a total waste."
There is that. Don’t agree, but, there is that.
You got it. There have been very few even attempted hijackings.
In the 60’s-70’s there were planes hijacked to Cuba almost monthly ( maybe a slight exaggeration).
before 9/11 there were many mysterious crashes and some not mysterious at all.
US carriers have few cases of air rage, drunken fights, and other things that other carriers have.
$800 million is not much spread out over all the air tickets sold.
I had forgotten that. Do you have a link to share for that?
Dittos! The problem with getting rid of Air Marshals is, it makes sense and is too simple a solution.
All that has to happen is that I would have to be allowed to carry my knife, my handgun and smoke.
If other passengers don't show up with their knives, handguns and smokes, they should be issued them at the gate and the unused items could be thrown in a bin upon deplaning.
This would save millions of dollars, untold aggravation and would make the air marshals and TSA employees unecessary.
I’d prefer a short-barreled shotgun that fit under the seat.
Plus a good knife.
“too simple a solution.”
What problem is being solved by eliminating armed law enforcement officers?
That's what I was going to say!
You want a waste of money? Here's a MAD idea... Toss out all the life jackets and install .22 caliber pistols under each seat. If ANYONE causes trouble, the rest of the passengers will subdue the rebel and put an end to it.
Besides, those life jackets are just subliminal anyway, right? They're just there to give the illusion of safety at 35,000 feet.
-PJ
air marshals have “a cushy, easy job” that requires little more than sitting on a plane.
Sounds like anybody in Congress...
Or air traffic controllers, they sit and watch a tube all day.
I'm not scared of flight because I don't understand it. I'm scared of flight because I DO!
/johnny
This is Mutually Assured Destruction, but it will take a consensus in the plane.
-PJ
Yeah! At least let them do something worthwhile on the flight, like serve drinks or make change at the pay toilets.
-PJ
Arm the flight attendants!
So do we have a major RINO alert here? I wonder how he will vote on Cap & Trade?
Cap & Trade final reconcilliation? Assuming he voted against orig. bill.
My reply was poorly worded.
There is obviously an $820 annual budget “problem”. The use of air marshals is a waste of taxpayers money, airline seats, and an inefficient use of LEO’s.
The Air Marshal Program is redundant given the intense screening processes in place at airline terminals and the Armed Pilot Program, which despite every effort to deter applicants, has been very successful (there are many armed airline pilots these days, although the fact isn’t advertised).
$860 million a year is insane.
Even cheaper and even less risk of explosive decompression (is that even a risk?).
Congressman Duncan has been one of the most fiscally responsible members of congress since he first got in office. I do not always agree with everything he says but if he were in charge we would be in much better financial shape! I never thought of him as a RINO and that is not a fair characterization. He was my congressman when I lived in East Tennessee.
I tend to agree with his assessment regarding the air marshal program. I would not abolish the program but they could certainly cut back on it with minimal impact. They are not on most flights in the U.S. and they could provide more coverage if they flew solo instead of in pairs.
We have to cut spending and Homeland Security has plenty of bloating like everything else.
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