Oh, this is just great! @sshole W stops the one thing that would deter
terrorists on flights. Whose side is this @sshole on, anyway?
---
trashy girl

Oh, this is just great! @sshole W stops the one thing that would deter
terrorists on flights. Whose side is this @sshole on, anyway?
---
trashy girl

In article <dbfeivs2vmtj7s7tim55gvg4o6o8majphj@4ax.com>,
Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

From MSNBC, 7/29/03:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/945774.asp

Air marshals pulled from key flights

Move seen as bid to cut costs comes amid new hijack warnings

By Brock N. Meeks
MSNBC

WASHINGTON --

Despite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the
Transportation Security Administration has alerted federal air
marshals that as of Friday they will no longer be covering
cross-country or international flights, MSNBC.com has learned.

The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to
be at the highest risk of attack apparently stems from a policy
decision to rework schedules so that air marshals don’t have to incur
the expense of staying overnight in hotels.

SEVERAL AIR marshals contacted by MSNBC.com Tuesday confirmed that
they were alerted via text messages on their TSA-issued cell phones to
check their schedules for changes.

"All overnights, starting from August first through the ninth, were
canceled," an air marshal told MSNBC.com.

"My [supervisor] told me overnights for all [field offices] were being
canceled for an indefinite amount of time," said the air marshal, who
requested anonymity.

"The supervisors said they only had time to change schedules through
the ninth."

Current flight schedules, which run through the end of July, Thursday,
are staying intact, another air marshal told MSNBC.com.

Federal air marshals are armed undercover agents deployed on U.S.
airlines and authorized to use deadly force to thwart a terrorist
incident.

Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, there were only a few dozen marshals who flew
mainly on international flights.

But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Congress authorized a
huge increase in air marshals.

From a pool of 250,000 applicants, a few thousand — the exact number
is classified -- were hired and given special advanced anti-terrorist
training.

Several marshals told MSNBC.com that the program is suffering budget
troubles and that the agency is looking to make cuts wherever it can.

Recently, enrollment in upgraded training for air marshals, known as
"Phase II," was suspended.

The TSA declined to comment on the details behind this week’s schedule
change.

"The agency cannot comment on details of federal air marshal mission
operations," said Brian Turmail, a TSA spokesman.

However, "TSA remains committed to aviation security and will take all
appropriate steps necessary to respond to credible threat
information," he said.

As to the allegation that budgetary constraints were at the root of
the pullbacks, Turmail said that all programs within the TSA are
"subject to ongoing review."

In addition, "TSA’s current task is to balance the need to meet
changing threats with the need to live within the agency’s budget," he
said.

"The federal air marshal budget is under review to determine how best
to meet these two objectives."

The move to pull air marshals from any flight requiring them to stay
overnight is particularly disturbing to some because it coincides with
a new high-level hijacking threat issued by the Department of Homeland
Security.

That warning memo says that "at least one of these attacks could be
executed by the end of the summer," according to a source familiar
with the document.

The DHS memo also warns that new intelligence indicates that hijackers
this time may simply try to crash the planes rather than fly them.

"Hijackers may attempt to use common items carried by travelers such
as cameras modified as weapons," and hijackers "may try to calm
passengers” by making them believe they are only being taken hostage
and “not on a suicide mission."

“Al-Qaida planners have primarily considered suicide hijackings and
bombings as the most promising method to destroy aircraft in flight as
well as to strike ground targets,” the memo says.

"Attack venues may include the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia or the
East Coast of the United States due to the relatively high
concentration of government, military and economic targets," the memo
warns.

The cancellation of overnight stays has been floating around the air
marshal rumor mill for weeks, based on conversations MSNBC.com has had
with various sources in the air marshal program.

When the reality hit, several air marshals voiced their disbelief that
the cutbacks were coming now, in the wake of newly issued warnings.

"The fact that this is coinciding with the new airline threats, it
just blows our minds," an air marshal said.

"We can’t cover [every flight] but at least put us on the high-threat
planes, the ones traveling across the country," the air marshal said,
noting that the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11 were all scheduled
cross-country flights and therefore filled to capacity with aviation
fuel.

Not having air marshal coverage on those types of flights, "it’s just
plain scary," the air marshal said.

The air marshal program has been beset by a number of problems during
its quick ramp-up from a few agents to thousands.

MSNBC.com reported in June that more than 100 federal air marshals had
been fired or stripped of their flight status for problems stemming
from their security clearance background investigations.

In addition, some air marshals were flying without having received
their final security clearances, Transportation Security
Administration sources said.

_____________________________________________________

I read it but I don't believe it. We're living in fantasyland, folks.
It's almost as if they're inviting hijackers to attack. Hmmmmmmmm.

Harry