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Keyword: armedmarshals

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  • Katie 'Oakley'? Couric Suggests Air Marshals Shoot at Specific Body Parts (Clueless Katie Alert!)

    12/08/2005 8:08:10 AM PST · by skyman · 32 replies · 1,518+ views
    NewsBusters.com ^ | December 8, 2005 | Mark Finkelstein
    Has Katie Couric watched too many westerns? You know, the kind where the sheriff shoots the gun out of the bad guy's hand? You'd think so, given the repeated questions she posed to a former air marshal in the wake of yesterday's shooting of a frantic passenger claiming to have a bomb aboard an American Airlines flight . Katie's guest was former air marshal Tony Kuklinski, who stated that "by all accounts I've seen, what [the air marshals] did was necessary." Katie wasn't so sure: "Do they always shoot to kill, Tony? In other words, I guess the average person...
  • Armed sky marshals aboard high-risk KLM flights

    06/18/2004 8:19:34 AM PDT · by knighthawk · 5 replies · 282+ views
    Radio Netherlands ^ | June 18 2004
    De Volkskrant newspaper reports that armed military police will be deployed on high-risk international flights by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from next week. These sky marshals will travel incognito and will be authorised to shoot in the event of a hijacking. The agents underwent secret training in Germany and Israel last year on the orders of the Justice Ministry. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, KLM pushed for armed guards on selected flights but met with safety objections from their pilots. All technical, legal and safety problems now appear to have been resolved.
  • Armed sky marshals on Australia-US flights next week

    05/07/2004 10:03:32 PM PDT · by KangarooJacqui · 37 replies · 264+ views
    The Australian ^ | May 8th, 2004 | AAP
    ARMED sky marshals will be on board flights between Australia and the United States from as soon as next week under an agreement to be announced today. Justice Minister Chris Ellison and the US ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer will reveal details of the plan at a media conference at Perth Airport at 4pm (AEST). Sky marshals have been on flights to and from Singapore since Christmas and have been operating on domestic flights since New Year's Eve 2001. The Federal Government has repeatedly refused to reveal how many marshals travel on each flight, however, it's believed up to six...
  • MARSHALS ON UK FLIGHTS

    02/14/2004 3:51:30 PM PST · by gdyniawitawa · 1 replies · 147+ views
    sky news ^ | Last Updated: 22:04 UK, Saturday February 14, 2004
    MARSHALS 'ON UK FLIGHTS' Armed US air marshals are flying in and out of Scotland on-board passenger flights, it has been claimed. They are said to have been aboard a number of flights over the last two weeks. That was since a Continental Airlines flight from Glasgow to the United States was grounded in a terror alert, according to a report in the Sunday Mail newspaper. A spokesman for the Transportation and Security Administration, based in Washington DC refused to confirm or deny the report. He said: "There are thousands of federal air marshals flying on US domestic carriers every...
  • Senator: Flight cancellations necessary (US has no defense against bio agents released in a plane)

    02/01/2004 12:00:22 PM PST · by FairOpinion · 45 replies · 256+ views
    CNN ^ | Feb. 1, 2004 | CNN
    <p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A key member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday the United States has no defense against threats to release biological weapons inside airplanes except to cancel suspect flights.</p> <p>Asked about reports that a biological or chemical agent might be used in an attack on a U.S.-bound airline, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said the United States would have no way to counter such moves.</p>
  • European Airlines Win Concessions On Sky Marshalls

    01/16/2004 4:18:45 PM PST · by blam · 6 replies · 253+ views
    Independent (UK) ^ | 1-17-2004 | Stephen Castle
    European airlines win concessions on sky marshals By Stephen Castle in Brussels 17 January 2004 The United States yesterday said it will not ban European airlines without sky marshals from its airspace, providing alternative security measures are deemed satisfactory. Asa Hutchinson, the deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department, announced the compromise following talks with European Union officials in Brussels. Mr Hutchinson said there was no "blanket policy" to prevent airlines without armed guards from entering American territory. The Homeland Security Department announced last month that airlines would be required to place armed law enforcement officers on flights to America...
  • U.S. Foreign Air Marshals Plan Challenged

    01/16/2004 12:25:16 AM PST · by kattracks · 18 replies · 84+ views
    AP | 1/16/04
    The Associated Press BRUSSELS, Belgium Jan. 16 — U.S. Homeland Security officials making the case for the use of armed sky marshals on trans-Atlantic flights faced widespread fears in Europe about the risks to crew and passengers. Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security in the Homeland Security Department, will meet Friday with civil aviation officials from the 15 European Union nations to try to convince them that air marshals are needed to prevent terrorist attacks on planes. Following the heightened security levels over the Christmas holidays, Washington is now demanding increased international cooperation to thwart new threats. American...
  • British Airways to accept armed sky marshals

    01/13/2004 9:57:38 AM PST · by knighthawk · 3 replies · 192+ views
    Australian Broadcasting Company ^ | January 13 2004 | AFP
    The chief executive of British Airways says his airline will accept the presence of armed sky marshals on its flights, but he has also condemned the "needless bureaucracy" involved in some US security checks. The comments by BA chief executive Rod Eddington, in an article published in the Financial Times, follow earlier reports that the British flag carrier would rather cancel flights than be forced to accept guns on its planes. Mr Eddington also acknowledged that security alerts which caused a series of BA flights to the United States and the Middle East to be cancelled or delayed this month...
  • KLM: Guarded 'yes' to sky marshals

    01/12/2004 9:46:05 AM PST · by knighthawk · 3 replies · 138+ views
    Reuters | January 12 2004
    AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Dutch carrier KLM, Europe's fourth-largest airline, says it is willing to put air marshals on some of its flights under certain conditions. KLM, which is awaiting regulatory clearance for its proposed takeover by Air France, said those included defining the responsibilities of the various parties if a marshal was deployed. "If for instance an armed air marshal uses his gun and injures someone on board, who would have the responsibility for that?" KLM spokesman Frank Houben said. The United States has ordered foreign airlines to put armed marshals on some flights to guard against possible attacks...
  • MORE GUNS, LESS TERRORISM? (guns on planes)

    01/11/2004 9:51:50 AM PST · by Liz · 33 replies · 164+ views
    NY POST ^ | January 11, 2004 | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
    <p>As John R. Lott Jr. notes ("Getting Air Security Right," Opinion, Jan. 6), it makes no sense to say an F-16 can shoot down a passenger jet, but we can't allow armed pilots because it is too dangerous.</p> <p>As commander of a potential missile, loaded with explosive fuel, a commercial pilot is already in charge of a lethal weapon. By inserting ourselves inside said missile, we've already put our lives into his hands. And we're worried about a gun in the cockpit? Some 70% of pilots have served in the military and are quite familiar with the use of firearms.</p>
  • Marshals Are Good, But Armed Pilots Are Better

    01/09/2004 11:43:18 AM PST · by neverdem · 11 replies · 113+ views
    Wall Street Journal (Europe) ^ | Jan 2, 2004 | John R. Lott Jr.
    Another successful 9/11-type attack would make it very difficult to again restore travelers' faith in security and probably destroy the airline industry. Last week's cancellation of six Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles made it clear that such a threat remains very real. Intelligence reports indicated that at least one of the would-be hijackers was trained to fly a plane. Unfortunately, the European response has been slow. A year ago British transportation secretary Alistair Darling announced that trained sky marshals "will be deployed where appropriate," but it was not until this past Sunday, just one day before the...
  • Feds packing heat on planes: A safety issue?

    01/09/2004 12:36:43 AM PST · by JohnHuang2 · 45 replies · 758+ views
    WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, January 9, 2004
    HOMELAND IN SECURITYFeds packing heat on planes: A safety issue?Concerns raised that EPA, FDIC agents carry guns, while pilots restricted Posted: January 9, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Ron Strom© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Though commercial airline pilots must go through a strict, complex process to be allowed to carry a handgun in the cockpit, federal agents – from agencies such as the Department of Education and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – routinely carry guns into airports and onto airplanes – a fact that raises safety concerns with pilots. "It's just crazy," Capt. Greg Rice, a pilot with American Airlines, told WorldNetDaily. "[Federal agents]...
  • UK Pilots' Union OKs Use of Sky Marshals

    01/06/2004 10:23:44 PM PST · by neverdem · 3 replies · 143+ views
    The Washington Times ^ | Jan 6, 2004 | JANE WARDELL (AP)
    LONDON (AP) -- British pilots won assurances from the government Tuesday that they will be told when armed sky marshals are on board their flights, but demanded to know where the guard is seated and to be able to maintain regular contact. Meanwhile, a British Airways flight from London to Washington, which was canceled twice last week over security fears, was delayed for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday because of U.S.-requested security checks. On Tuesday, British Air Line Pilots' Association said it would advise its members - nearly 90 percent of Britain's 9,200 commercial pilots - not to fly with...
  • Air marshals: If they don't like it, they can go fly a kite

    01/07/2004 9:17:45 AM PST · by knighthawk · 6 replies · 217+ views
    NY Daily News ^ | January 07 2004
    Some European governments and pilots' organizations are stamping their feet because the U.S. has decided that all airlines flying to, from or over this country must be prepared to staff their flights with armed air marshals. If they don't want to, that's fine. They can stay home. The same goes for foreigners who don't like being fingerprinted and photographed upon landing here. Some seem to feel that verifying a visitor's identity is akin to violating the Geneva Convention. Quoth one Brazilian judge: "I consider the act absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst...
  • More EU countries "voice concern" re: (a.k.a. refuse) armed guards on US-bound flights

    01/06/2004 9:22:49 AM PST · by yankeedame · 33 replies · 409+ views
    BBC On-Line ^ | Tuesday, 6 January, 2004
    Last Updated: Tuesday, 6 January, 2004, 11:35 GMT Protests widen over sky marshalsMore countries have joined the protests against American proposals to place armed guards on US-bound flights. Portugal is the latest nation to voice concern, as its civil aviation authority said that putting loaded guns aboard an aircraft could endanger it. In Britain, the pilots' union said that if the security risk to a flight is great enough to warrant an armed guard, the plane should not fly at all. Denmark and Sweden have also rejected demands for armed guards on aircraft. While the US has introduced new checks...
  • Pilots' Union Accepts Use of Sky Marshals

    01/06/2004 4:53:42 AM PST · by kattracks · 19 replies · 184+ views
    AP | 1/06/04
    The Associated Press LONDON Jan. 6 — A pilots' union says it reluctantly accepts the use of armed sky marshals on British flights, but it wants assurances from the government about dealing with the "unknown risks" of the policy. Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the pilot's union BALPA, speaking Tuesday before a meeting with Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, said it was crucial that pilots remain in command of the plane at all times and know the identity of sky marshals and where they are sitting. "We still have a fundamental problem about having ballistics in a pressurized cabin," McAuslan told...
  • Dutch Sky marshals ready, KLM hesitant

    01/06/2004 10:02:19 AM PST · by chance33_98 · 5 replies · 206+ views
    Sky marshals ready, KLM hesitant 6 January 2004 AMSTERDAM — The Dutch military police has reportedly had 10 officers secretly trained in Germany and Israel to serve as armed guards on planes to prevent hijackings, but airline KLM has raised doubts about the project. The intense and expensive anti-terrorism training course was conducted in the summer of 2003 at the request of the Justice Ministry with the intention to deploy the sky marshals in civilian clothes on KLM fights, newspaper De Volkskrant reported. But the Dutch flag carrier — which has urged the government on several occasions to deploy...
  • Portugal rejects sky marshal call

    01/06/2004 3:14:43 AM PST · by kattracks · 31 replies · 114+ views
    BBC NEWS ^ | 1/06/04
    Portugal has joined Denmark and Sweden in rejecting US calls to post armed guards on international flights. The country's civil aviation authority said that putting loaded guns aboard an aircraft could endanger it. A better course would be to cancel any flight against which there was a credible terrorist threat, it argued. The decision means that plans to have armed guards, known as sky marshals, on board US-bound planes have now been rejected by three countries. While the US has introduced new checks at home, its efforts to tighten security on flights to the US as well have met with...
  • Pilots resist armed officers

    01/05/2004 10:50:07 PM PST · by kattracks · 5 replies · 134+ views
    Washington Times ^ | 1/06/03 | AP
    <p>LONDON (AP) — British Airways met with pilots yesterday to discuss their objections to the use of armed sky marshals on flights to the United States. As they met, a British Airways flight to Washington was delayed for the third straight day because of U.S.-requested security checks.</p>
  • BA will refuse to fly with armed guards

    01/04/2004 8:34:48 AM PST · by KQQL · 69 replies · 224+ views
    observer.guardian.co.uk ^ | Sunday January 4, 2004 | Juliette Jowit, transport editor
    Controversial plans to put armed guards on British passenger planes were in disarray last night after British Airways effectively refused to fly with them aboard because it would mean there was a 'significant threat' to passengers. An internal BA memo obtained by The Observer makes clear that executives are deep-seatedly opposed to the scheme unveiled by the Government last week as a vital new step to protect aircraft against hijackers. The memo - sent on Friday from Mike Street, BA's operations director - said the airline 'would not operate a single flight unless we were satisfied totally that it was...