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Marshals' flights not random
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Marshals' flights not random
2002-09-21
By Leslie Miller
Associated Press Writer
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Thousands of armed, undercover air marshals rushed into service since last year's terrorist attacks are flying carefully chosen missions, sometimes on an hour's notice because of a new terrorist threat.
Air marshals were aboard every flight in and out of New Orleans during the Super Bowl, patrolled the skies above Salt Lake City during the Olympics and routinely fly wherever President Bush is.
That wasn't the case Sept. 11, 2001, when a handful of air marshals were flying incognito, all on the wrong planes, helpless to stop the terrorists.
"I know, I know we could have," said Scott McShaffrey, a marshal who flew overseas that day. "I just wasn't in the right place at the right time."
Although many planes still fly without a marshal, the odds of having a team on the right plane have improved.
The program has grown from the nearly forgotten 32-person unit of Sept. 11 to a sprawling federal law enforcement agency that employs thousands. The exact number is classified.
The program has its critics. Some say the marshals were too quick to draw their guns on a flight diverted to Philadelphia on Aug. 31 when passengers wouldn't sit down after a man's arrest.
Thomas Quinn, a retired Secret Service agent, said there have been growing pains as thousands were hired, 21 field offices set up and consultants called in to create what he calls "one of the most sophisticated reservation systems in the world." Quinn took charge of the marshals program in February.
Most travel reservations are now made electronically. There are about 25,000 flights per day within the country, and marshals also work overseas trips.
Larry Tormey, who supervises international operations, said fresh intelligence often forces them to switch flights.
"Sometimes we get threat information and have an hour to redeploy," he said.
Some airliners diverted by fighter jets because of an incident or suspicion had air marshals aboard who secretly told the military via the pilot that the problem wasn't serious, said Donald Anderson, assistant special agent in charge of Mission Operations.
"If they don't need to make themselves known, they don't," Anderson said.
When a man shot and wounded two people at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on May 22, an unidentified bystander who tackled him was an air marshal, Quinn said.
Spending hours in an airplane looking for suspicious behavior is not for everyone.
Disgruntled marshals, legally prohibited from discussing the program, have complained anonymously to members of Congress and reporters, saying hiring standards have been lowered. Scheduling problems caused overwork for some while others went for weeks without flying, they said.
An air marshal's average salary is $52,000.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=920528&pic=none&TP=getarticle
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
2002-09-21
By Leslie Miller
Associated Press Writer
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Thousands of armed, undercover air marshals rushed into service since last year's terrorist attacks are flying carefully chosen missions, sometimes on an hour's notice because of a new terrorist threat.
Air marshals were aboard every flight in and out of New Orleans during the Super Bowl, patrolled the skies above Salt Lake City during the Olympics and routinely fly wherever President Bush is.
That wasn't the case Sept. 11, 2001, when a handful of air marshals were flying incognito, all on the wrong planes, helpless to stop the terrorists.
"I know, I know we could have," said Scott McShaffrey, a marshal who flew overseas that day. "I just wasn't in the right place at the right time."
Although many planes still fly without a marshal, the odds of having a team on the right plane have improved.
The program has grown from the nearly forgotten 32-person unit of Sept. 11 to a sprawling federal law enforcement agency that employs thousands. The exact number is classified.
The program has its critics. Some say the marshals were too quick to draw their guns on a flight diverted to Philadelphia on Aug. 31 when passengers wouldn't sit down after a man's arrest.
Thomas Quinn, a retired Secret Service agent, said there have been growing pains as thousands were hired, 21 field offices set up and consultants called in to create what he calls "one of the most sophisticated reservation systems in the world." Quinn took charge of the marshals program in February.
Most travel reservations are now made electronically. There are about 25,000 flights per day within the country, and marshals also work overseas trips.
Larry Tormey, who supervises international operations, said fresh intelligence often forces them to switch flights.
"Sometimes we get threat information and have an hour to redeploy," he said.
Some airliners diverted by fighter jets because of an incident or suspicion had air marshals aboard who secretly told the military via the pilot that the problem wasn't serious, said Donald Anderson, assistant special agent in charge of Mission Operations.
"If they don't need to make themselves known, they don't," Anderson said.
When a man shot and wounded two people at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on May 22, an unidentified bystander who tackled him was an air marshal, Quinn said.
Spending hours in an airplane looking for suspicious behavior is not for everyone.
Disgruntled marshals, legally prohibited from discussing the program, have complained anonymously to members of Congress and reporters, saying hiring standards have been lowered. Scheduling problems caused overwork for some while others went for weeks without flying, they said.
An air marshal's average salary is $52,000.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=920528&pic=none&TP=getarticle
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
Canadian sues U.S., saying air marshals brandished guns on plane, causing panic
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Isabel Vincent
National Post
Saturday, September 21, 2002
ADVERTISEMENT
A Canadian physician of Indian descent is suing the U.S. government after he was violently arrested on a flight during which two air marshals allegedly sent panic through the plane, shouting and pointing a gun at cowering passengers.
Bob Rajcoomar, a doctor who lives in Lake Worth, Fla., where he has practised medicine for nearly 20 years, was forced to sit with his head between his legs in his first-class seat on a recent Delta flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia.
The doctor -- a former U.S. army major and military doctor -- was then whisked off the plane and held for three hours in a filthy cell at Philadelphia airport.
"It was Rambo in the air," said his wife, Dorothy, an accountant, adding the actions of the air marshals, later identified by Philadelphia police as B. McCullers and Samuel Mumma, created panic and confusion on the flight.
"I have to tell you that the very first thing we thought about after this happened to us was moving back to Canada," she said in an interview from her home in Florida yesterday. The Rajcoomars studied in Saskatchewan and Ontario before moving to the United States.
"After they heard about what happened to us, a lot of our friends called from Vancouver and said we should just pack up our things and go back," she added.
The couple are suing the U.S. government for illegal detention and emotional distress. They filed the suit two days ago in Philadelphia.
Their case has been taken up by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which called Dr. Rajcoomar's detention a civil rights violation that should "send a wake-up call to Americans before it's too late."
"In our haste to protect ourselves, we are literally turning on each other," said Stefan Presser, legal director of the ACLU in Philadelphia.
The two air marshals stationed on Delta Flight 442 on Aug. 31 seized an unruly passenger and also detained Dr. Rajcoomar, who was sitting in a first-class seat reading a book and drinking a beer.
Due to a seating mix-up, his wife was several rows back, in economy class.
According to witness accounts, the air marshals also aimed a pistol at other passengers for more than a half-hour, shouting at everyone to stay seated. The atmosphere was reportedly one of utter panic and confusion.
The incident began when a man from Philadelphia, described by fellow passengers as disturbed, aroused suspicion by staring at the luggage of other passengers.
Alerted to this behaviour, the two air marshals, who were sitting in first-class seats at the front of the plane, rushed back into the economy-class cabin and began yelling at all the passengers to stay in their seats.
"Air marshals issued a series of warnings to passengers to stay in their seats," said a spokesperson for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, the new U.S. government agency that oversees air marshals.
On the topic of Dr. Rajcoomar's detention, the spokesperson said, "To the best of our knowledge, he had been observing too closely.
"When the aircraft landed, the airline declined to press charges" against Dr. Rajcoomar and the other man, who was not identified.
The Rajcoomars said after the air marshals detained the man who was staring at the other passengers' luggage, they pushed him into the seat next to Dr. Rajcoomar.
"They sat on the guy in the seat," the doctor said in an interview. "He was groaning, and the more he groaned, the more they twisted the handcuffs."
Alarmed, Dr. Rajcoomar asked to be moved to another seat. Caught up in the shock of the moment, he said, he continued to stare at the marshals and their prisoner.
His wife described how one of the air marshals began to yell and point his pistol at passengers in economy class when a woman rose to switch seats with her child.
Then, without warning, one of the marshals approached Dr. Rajcoomar and ordered him to put his head down and his hands over his head. The air marshal handcuffed Dr. Rajcoomar and spirited him out of the airplane after it landed.
At the airport, he was taken to the police station and locked in a cell. Mrs. Rajcoomar had no idea where he was and spent several hours wandering the terminal looking for him.
"One of the marshals said something like, 'We didn't like the way you looked,' " Dr. Rajcoomar said.
"They also said something like, 'We didn't like the way you looked at us.' "
Dr. Rajcoomar, who has been a naturalized U.S. citizen since 1985, called the incident "blatant racial profiling.
"They think they can pick up anybody, willy-nilly. This is not in keeping with the traditions of the United States."
The air marshal program, which places armed undercover agents on some domestic and international flights, has created a great deal of controversy since it was introduced after Sept. 11 last year. Critics say there are no security measures in place to prevent air marshals from overreacting to a potential terrorist situation.
ivincent@nationalpost.com
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id={82720A73-A63F-475D-9CAD-AF78368F377F}
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878