Reply #10: I'm not a Randi fan [View All]

Just happened in on the show tonight while driving. Why is it believable and likely? Read on:

Report: Air Marshals Shelved Cross-Training of Other Agents Because Congress Objected to Cost
By LESLIE MILLER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON Nov 29, 2005 — Efforts to train thousands of federal agents to protect commercial flights during heightened terror alerts were quietly abandoned more than a year ago because Congress objected to the cost, government investigators said Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, reported that the federal air marshal service suspended its efforts to develop such a "surge capacity" by training customs and immigration agents to protect passenger airliners.

The Homeland Security Department "indicated that it would continue to support the surge effort but had not determined whether and when it would resume cross-training to resume this initiative," the report said

<snip>

Ridge announced that the air marshals would be combined with immigration and customs agents in the same agency so agents in both could be cross-trained and used for aviation security. The move would allow more than 5,000 armed federal law enforcement agents to be deployed on commercial aircraft, he said.

<snip>

The air marshals moved back to the Transportation Security Administration in October.

The air marshal program was nearly nonexistent at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. Only 32 agents were employed then, but the number increased into the thousands after the hijackings. The exact number is classified.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1357502