Air marshal whistleblowers claim agency hides behind national security David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday April 17, 2008



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Print This Email This The head of the Transportation Security Administration appeared at a Congressional hearing this week to rebut charges recently made by CNN that the air marshal program, which was greatly expanded after 9/11 to prevent further hijackings, is now protecting less than 1% of US flights. "That number is absolutely wrong by an order of magnitude, and it was a guess by the folks there [at CNN]," Kip Hawley told the committee. The actual percentage of flights with marshals is considered a national security secret, but whistleblowers have informed CNN that TSA tells its own agents at least 5% of flights are covered, a figure the whistleblowers do not find credible. They suggest that the agency is hiding behind a cloak of national security to avoid revealing the true numbers. One former air marshal, who quit the service in 2006 because of what he saw as declining standards, said that many marshals are leaving and not being replaced. He told CNN that the Los Angeles office even began assigning offices to short, no-risk flights -- like the hop from Los Angeles to Las Vegas -- just to inflate their numbers. Pilots and regular fliers confirmed that you can go for months without ever seeing a marshal on board. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) began holding closed door meetings with the air marshal service this month to determine whether TSA has been lying to Congressional oversight committees. "The air marshals have suggested that not only to you," Jackson-Lee told CNN, "but they've suggested that to members of Congress, and we are concerned. We too are not interested in having funny numbers." CNN further reports that recruiting and training standards have been lowered because of the lack of applicants. Mandatory psychological testing has been dropped, and a former weapons instructor indicated that the tough federal tactical pistol course was replaced with a test that recruits could more easily pass. TSA acknowledges the changes but denies that they have compromised safety. Whistleblowers even told CNN that airport screeners with no military or law enforcement background are being hired to fill the gaps. "To me it's more of an embarrassment to be a member of that agency that would allow that particular individual to make it through the training program," stated one anonymous whistleblower. "I know I don't want them on my flight." The Air Marshall Service has been having retention problems at least since 2004, when the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on the matter. US News & World Report suggested then that "[Director Thomas] Quinn will be able to train and deploy at least 200 more marshals with the $50 million raise Congress is giving the service next year, but it won't be enough to make up for the marshals expected to leave their jobs. About 10 percent of the new marshals resigned between 9/11 and July 2003, according to the Government Accountability Office. Quinn says the current annual attrition rate is about 6.3 percent." CNN has more on the story here. This video is from CNN.com, broadcast April 16, 2008.