Air Marshals Mess
posted at 9:30 am on May 22, 2006 by Bryan
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Dress code wearing thin on AM
The “Kill Me First” Dress Code
Air Rage
Tom Quinn Resigns: Good Riddance
Congress to review report criticizing air marshal policies
ABC 20/20 investigates
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We clearly need more government oversight! Ha!
MT on May 22, 2006 at 10:00 AM
Forget oversight. How about some common sense? It’s bad enough they don’t have enough men, but they make them check in and identify themselves? I can’t believe a former Secret Service Agent came up with these rules; I thought those guys knew about undercover work. Maybe Quinn was the one on Clinton’s detail that brought girls in so the former Prez could ‘work really hard on behalf of the American People’. This is the kind of stuff Homeland Security was supposed to address. Yet another big government failure. Nice report. Cool shirt today Michelle…cheers.
austinnelly on May 22, 2006 at 10:23 AM
No one will ever know who they are, what is the big fuss? We don’t profile in the USA. Right!
Wade on May 22, 2006 at 10:45 AM
I just flew roundtrip Phila to LA. It was my first flight since 2001 and I didn’t know what to expect security-wise. But I was a little nervous.
All I knew was that I was going to be doing my own profiling.
All 5 of my senses were honed in on ANYTHING OR ANYONE suspicious.
Both flights, there was NTR (nothing to report), nothing or anyone out of the ordinary occured.
I don’t believe the TSA will be able to protect us, it’s ridiculous for them to make Air Marshalls reveal themselves as they do.
I believe we all have to be covert “Air Marshalls” and look out for one another. I can’t carry a weapon, but my whole body IS A WEAPON, if needed. United 93 showed us we might have to be called on.
We can’t take anyone or anything for granted, be it planes, buses, subways.
Stay Alert, keep your EYES and EARS open. We’re all in this war together.
Richard Davis on May 22, 2006 at 10:45 AM
Unfortunately I don’t think a single ‘another 9/11′ would do it. Perhaps two or three or maybe a mushroom cloud.
The apologist are too entrenched. Bush, while I support him, is out of his league with his Amnisty and ‘Islam is a religion of Peace’ and appointing inexperienced cronys to top positions. And the Media is prepared to cover and and back their allies ( the terrorists ) when another 9/11 happens.
I dont want another 9/11 to happen and and pray another one never happens. But with our lax security I think it will eventually happen.
And when it does happen and people here finally wake up it will take millions of lives this time to push them back.
CrazyFool on May 22, 2006 at 11:31 AM
I really want to believe Thomas Quinn is not that stupid.
I want to believe he really, sincerely, wants to enhance the efficiency of the AM by making every one of them look like Dirty Harry with a 44 Magnum hanging under their arm pits and wearing Versace sun glasses.
I rally want to believe Thomas Quinn is sane.
Easy87us
easy87us on May 22, 2006 at 11:53 AM
Michelle: Every vent gets better,good going. Tom Quinn should have been relieved from his post at least a year ago. I do belive the administration has been lax with regards to overseeing homland security.
birdman on May 22, 2006 at 12:05 PM
We seem to be on this big trip, as a collective nation, that federal = efficient. More often than not, the exact opposite is true.
I can tell our government how to solve this problem in a heartbeat: Put out a call for competitive bids from private security firms. Anyone who has read Richard Marcinko (ex Navy Seal in the one of the most prestigious specops cells ever) knows, at least secondhand, just how badly government tends to screw things up — which is why they would probably never listen to such a suggestion.
gryphon202 on May 22, 2006 at 12:17 PM
Unbelievable!
Someone has to devise a psychological test to give to prospective managers in the Federal bureaucracy. It should identify those individuals who have the rules for the sake of rules, no common sense, mindset. Actually, it should be administered to all current bureaucrats and those who fail should be transferred to those jobs Americans will not do.
pappy on May 22, 2006 at 12:32 PM
Michelle, great VENT as always. Keep up the great work. To bad the MSM doesn’t report like you do. Well…….if they did, you might not have a job. Glad that Tom Quinn quit and is no longer the head of FAMS. Then again, if he was still on the job when the Congressional report came out he would be fired, ahem, forced to retire.
LRP
LurP on May 22, 2006 at 1:15 PM
Richard Davis: I know what you mean. I took my first flight since 9/11 earlier this month and was I scrutinizing the passengers! I have to say I felt better on the return home when I saw 6 soldiers all decked out in fatigues, etc. board the plan with me. The flights were normal but I stayed on alert the whole time. There was a lot of turbulence so it was hard to relax anyway.
dbdiva on May 22, 2006 at 1:30 PM
You know … if the Air Marshall Service is going to be stupid and inefficient and ineffective enough (read: run by the government) to have dress codes and obvious check in procedures and air marshalls using the same hotels …
… why not just give up on the undercover part all together? Seriously. At this point, all they’re doing is getting the air marshalls killed.
If they can’t change their procedures – why not be obvious on purpose?
Have the air marshalls wear full camoflage, a flak vest or armor, a SWAT style helmet, and all the rest. Arm them with M-4’s … and let them just sit on stools at the back of first class and coach.
With their weapons locked, cocked, and pointed in the general direction of the passengers.
It would be superior to the current option which has none of the advantages of overt, in-your-face security and also has none of the advantages of actual under cover operatives.
Professor Blather on May 22, 2006 at 2:57 PM
Nevertheless,a good thing comes out of this.
Now the terrorists know for sure we have AM on the plane.
That is good. But I fear that they would go for our border instead.
Bush is such a….
Easy87us
easy87us on May 22, 2006 at 3:00 PM
Ridculous. Most of our “secrets” are being published by the newspapers and now they weant to OUT the Air Marshalls? What planet are we living on?
bleeding_right on May 22, 2006 at 3:06 PM
Hey …. maybe Karl Rove leaked the Air Marshall secrets?
In that case, liberals might finally get their non-existent indictment dreams to come true …!
Professor Blather on May 22, 2006 at 3:13 PM
I would have thought 1 (One) 9/11 would be enough to get our leaders full attention. If after that horrible day, our leaders can’t get serious about security, I am afraid of what it would take, to get their attention.
havok on May 22, 2006 at 3:50 PM
Call me naive, but if I created a dept like FAMS, and needed to staff it with experienced aviation security people, wouldn’t I be recruiting from experienced programs like those at El Al. Are you telling me there are no former or current experienced air security people that can be recruited?
paulsur on May 22, 2006 at 4:06 PM
Great vent Michelle, as usual! Keep up the good work.
Folks, please remember your Political Science 101. “The only thing an entrenched bureaucracy does well is get bigger”. Our Federal government is out of control and out of touch with reality. If this AM fiasco does not prove it, I don’t know what will. We cannot hand over our lives, well-being and responsibilities to a Federal institution (or bureaucrats) that do not care for much of anything except to keep its job. Tom Quinn was a total incompetent for such an important position and it took a 2 year investigation to see the obvious. Sometimes I wonder how this country is going to survive. Get involved and vote the irresponsible boobs out of office. That includes your home state pet Republican senator who does not have a backbone or a shred of common sense!
JonR
JonR on May 22, 2006 at 4:51 PM
Michelle, Allah, Bryan -
IMHO you should stay on the DHS beat a bit and do an interview with Clark Kent Ervin (http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.1661873/k.2A4C/Institutes_Homeland_Security_Expert_Clark_Ervin_Warns_of_Nations_Security_Vulnerabilities.htm), former IG of DHS. If you do speak with him you might ask him about CTPAT (http://hsc.house.gov/files/TestimonyErvin.pdf).
MarcH on May 22, 2006 at 5:34 PM
Interesting and great vent, Michelle.
I remember these stories fairly well. Maybe it is just me, but this seems like another example of Washington, PC wanting to fight the war on terrorism like a gentleman’s war…giving the bad guy fair warning, sort of like the aces of WWI who promoted chivarly during dogfights in their Sopwith Camels (sort of like Snoopy), Spads, and Fokker biplanes and triplanes.
If there is another 9/11 attack, I fear that it will only make too many people WANT to forget. The desire to win against terrorism tends to be fleeting. Hopefully, I am wrong.
And the disintergration continues….
The False Dervish on May 22, 2006 at 5:39 PM
DHS, aka Don’t Help Sh–, is a disaster. Ask anyone that works for them.. We jokingly say that a requirement for management is a lobotomy, actually it seems true. Before I started working as an Immigration Inspector I served almost 25 years in the US Army. I admit we had some idiots in postitons of command and/or trust, but not like the debacle of DHS. I work on a daily basis with Supervisors that have no idea how to manage people, motivate the workers or even make a decision. Do I think we a safer than we were on 09-10-01? Heck no! I am sure we will soon be hit 10 times worse than 9/11. Make sure you exercise your 2nd Amendment rights. I plan on making sure my family is protected.
immigration inspectr on May 22, 2006 at 6:33 PM
Michelle,
Good Vent! I agree they are getting better and better. Sometimes I find myself thinking maybe you are getting a little too worked up about some of your subjects.
But then I watch one like this and I think, Nah — You are right on the button, lady.
Good work.
Subsunk
Subsunk on May 22, 2006 at 7:16 PM
Wow, interesting stuff.
I didn’t know they had to go and alert the crew about their presence. You’d think the crews would know ahead of time, or maybe they’d have a secret handshake, seriously!
I put a lot of my air-travel sanity in the hands of these air-marshalls! Thanks for letting us know we still need to be our own eyes and ears (well, with a gov’t agency ‘looking out for us’ I guess we should all know that already….)
Thanks Michelle
NTWR on May 22, 2006 at 7:45 PM
dbdiva – good job, way to keep alert – it does help.
These terrorist are cockroaches who slit the throats of innocent flight attendants and pilots in order to get into the cockpit… Professor Blather wins a money prize for his great idea! lol.
Richard Davis on May 22, 2006 at 7:46 PM
Good One, Michelle! That’s one for the good guys. How dumb can that guy Quinn be? Didn’t these guys ever play cops ‘n robbers when they were kids and learn to dissemble. You can’t have air marshals everyone can spot. The rigid thinking of the over 30s is dismaying. Or is it the lefty college upbringing that’s weeded out the survival instinct?
foreign_devil on May 22, 2006 at 8:24 PM
It’s such a shame when first cousins marry. Which short bus do our homeland security people ride to the airport on?
pubscout on May 22, 2006 at 10:13 PM
Why is it that so many idiots are given positions of power in our country? What system cranks them out in such quantity? And why does my personal safety have to rely on them?
It makes me want to puke….
Majnun on May 22, 2006 at 10:32 PM
I remember the dress code issue.
Some people are just plain STUPID.
hadsil on May 23, 2006 at 1:34 AM
As Napoleon Dynamite would say….”IDIOT!”
pullingmyhairout on May 23, 2006 at 9:14 AM
as Donkey says in the movie Shrek….”Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!!”
pullingmyhairout on May 23, 2006 at 9:46 AM
As long as agencies are allowed to be run by political appointees, nothing is going to change.
Look at the biggest moron in the TSA, Norm Mineta. He was appointed because of his race and refused to allow pilots to carry weapons.
The whole TSA should be thrown in the trash along with Norm Mineta who is an pandering racist and anti gun advocate.
This is the guy you want to protect the airways.
Then there is Julie Meyers, Ice Princess who has zero law enforcement experience but knows how to put her makeup on and act tough. She has prosecuted one employer then let them all go, catch and release style.
The list is endless. FBI same thing, Homeland Security, same thing. All appointed political hacks.
You would think they would be required to at least have a resume for running an agency.
ScottyDog on May 23, 2006 at 10:38 AM
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