Where have all the air marshals gone?

While some marshals appear to have jumped at the chance to join other federal law enforcement agencies, others have left due to a belief that the agency repeatedly failed to protect them in the line of duty. Vasquez says that the agency neglected to properly conceal marshals’ identities on domestic and international trips.

“Everything they did set us up to get murdered,” he says. “That was the biggest thing: not trying to help us be covert at all. The biggest thing is we’re carrying a gun that is too damn big to be concealed.” On some international flights, he says, marshals are even required to board the plane first, which exposes them to the other passengers.
Other marshals are stuck in untenable position: Afraid to leave without the assurance of another job, they are also afraid to stay due to the agency’s repeated failure to protect them. One current marshal, whose name has been withheld due to a fear of retaliation, says the marshal service is a “dead-end law enforcement agency.”

“There’s an escape plan by all the marshals to leave the agency,” the marshal says. “I always tell the young guys to get out after three years, since that is the minimum amount of time other agencies want to see from transferees.”