Broken Promises

The TSA and the federal government promised to improve air security and to expand the air marshal program, which was designed to thwart terrorists from hijacking planes. Well, only about 1% of all daily flights in the US have an air marshal on board.

That means that a terrorist or other criminal bent on taking over an aircraft would be confronted by a trained air marshal on as few as 280 daily flights, according to more than a dozen federal air marshals and pilots interviewed by CNN.

The investigation found those low numbers even as the Transportation Security Administration in recent months has conducted tests in which it has been able to smuggle guns and bomb-making materials past airport security screeners.

The air marshal program began in 1970, after a rash of airline hijackings, and it was expanded significantly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Specially trained to safeguard passengers and crew aboard crowded aircraft, air marshals were seen as a critical component in the overall effort to secure America's commercial aviation system.

One pilot who crisscrosses the country and flies internationally told CNN he hasn't seen an air marshal on board one of his flights in six months. A federal law enforcement officer, who is not affiliated with the air marshal service and who travels in and out of Washington every week, said he has gone for months without seeing a marshal on board.

Neither individual wanted to be identified because neither is authorized by his employer to speak out.

And it's especially troubling that so few flights in and out of New York City and Washington, DC have marshals on board.

The TSA tells its own agents that 5% of flights have marshals on board, though the precise number is secret because of security concerns. I completely understand the need to keep the number secret because we'd be giving away way too much information to terrorists who seek to do the nation harm, but the impression of the marshals, pilots, and security experts is that there are far too few flights with marshals on board. What numbers have been obtained aren't pretty:

CNN was told that staffing in Dallas, Texas, for instance, is down 44 percent from its high, while Seattle, Washington, has 40 percent fewer agents. Las Vegas, Nevada, which had as many as 245 air marshals, this past February had only 47.

The Transportation Security Administration is advertising for applicants to fill 50 air marshal positions.

This all suggests that the government agencies and those responsible for air security are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality and accept the lower numbers, even as repeated TSA tests show that airport screeners do a poor job of uncovering hidden weapons in carry-on baggage.

Watch for more on this from Annie Jacobsen, who has been at the forefront of critiquing the TSA and air security efforts.

UPDATE:
Debbie Schlussel wonders where is DHS Secretary Chertoff with a rebuttal or excuse, or something. She notes that the federal air marshal program spent $720 million - and wants to know where all the money went. Good question.