ABC: Air Marshalls Cannot Protect the Public; Can't be Undercover

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/air_marshal_say.html

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/

ABC has an investigative report on the rules that make it difficult for Federal air marshalls to protect the public on planes.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/19/103935/421

Idiotic rules from the administration are making it hard for our air marshalls to remain undercover on planes. As a result, a terrorist can easily spot the air marshall and kill them before they can act. More details at the above link. Here's comments from the daily kos post:

"Some of the more egregious examples of the violations include the following:

Requiring them to wear khakis and jackets (no jeans or other clothing);

Requiring them to check in and identify themselves as air marshals;

Requiring them to board the plan early with the flight attendants;

Requiring them to sit in aisle seats near the front of the plane;

Requiring them to consistently stay in the same hotels near the airport; and

In one instance, a hotel had a big sign that welcomed the federal air marshals."

I can just imagine the terrorists saying: That guy is either an air marshall or a mormon missionary.

Oh yeah, they're listening in when we call for pizza delivery. :scared: :scared:

seen. They would fu*k up a wet dream. If there is a choice to make you can be sure they'll make the wrong one.

Some Dem needs to get on ABC and drill this Repug outfit a new orifice for their shear incompetence.

... morons about everything? What the hell good does a sky marshal do, if he/she are easily identified?

Do we have common sense about anything in this country anymore? Sheesh...

Do not wear khaki's and jacket on next flight.

or, well, fly. Sheesh!

... the exact same thing...

The days of the benign take-this-plane-to-Cuba highjacking are over. What is going to happen the next time someone or a group of someones jumps up in flight and announces that a plane is being highjacked? Every person on board will immediately assume one thing: These folks want to use this plane as an instrument of death by crashing it into something.

Every person on board will decide that they would rather die on their own than be used as a missile to kill someone else. Now, I don’t much care how ruthless you like your terrorists, but there aren’t many terrorists who are going to be able to kill everyone on board before they can seize control of a plane. The entire complement of passengers and crew will work to stop them, and I don’t care how armed they are, 100 or 300 against 8 is a fight that just isn’t going to last very long.

Posting air marshals on flights is a cosmetic, feel-good approach to counterterrorism that wastes resources and doesn’t enhance security.

... would have to assume that out of the 100 or more passagners, at least half are either women, children and older folks, what on earth are they going to do against a 23 years old guy on a mission for Allah...? If they can obtain the Air Marshal's gun, which looks fairly simple, they will be able to hold off the few men who can fight, long enough for a few of them to barracade themselves into the cockpit... I don't exactly feel safe with air security being left to us... If Israel can do it, why can't we...?

It's not possible to breech the cockpit of any aircraft flying in the US right now unless you have weaponry that would probably just bring down the plane if you used it i.e. explosives.

The new cockpit doors and the idea of keeping the flight deck closed are one of the few post 9-11 things that actually make sense and work.

On Flight 93, they had to attack the terrorists with a food cart. I'd much rather have one marshall who is armed and well-trained to use it.

I was the "terrorists"... First on the list is figuring out who the marshal is, which by FAMA's own account should be fairly easy, attack him and take his gun, and the rest is child's play... Now, I'm not sure about the new regulations, I know the pit's door is now armored but still, don't the pilots have to eat and use the toilet? Or, do the doors not open the entire flight?

Anybody know?

Go figure.

Hmm, maybe it's all a bunch of over-hyped bullshit by the fearmongers.

I have no doubt that Al Qaida is planning new attacks, but they won't use the same approach. There are so many other ways they can create terror other than hijacking planes. Meanwhile, the US is spending much of its energy trying to prepare for the last type of attack vs. new types of attacks.