Outing air marshals

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Actually most of the time, I board first or very early and see a young 
casually dressed man, with crew cut,  sitting in fist class with brief 
case under his seat. To be effective they should board with the normal 
crowd.

Dave

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ed Swierk <eswierk () cs stanford edu>
Date: June 1, 2004 1:13:44 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Outing air marshals

Is it illegal to "out" an air marshal?

--Ed

--

Natty air marshals discover it's hard to stay undercover
In the casual skies, crew cuts and ties stand out

Washington -- As they settled into first class on American Airlines 
Flight
1438 from Chicago to Miami, they were supposed to be the last line of
defense against terrorists -- two highly trained U.S. air marshals who
would sit unnoticed among the ordinary travelers but spring into action 
at
the first sign of trouble.

Imagine their chagrin when a fellow passenger coming down the aisle
suddenly boomed out, "Oh, I see we have air marshals on board!"

The incident, detailed in an intelligence brief, is an example of
something that happens all too often, marshals say. The element of
surprise may be crucial to their mission, but it turns out they're "as
easy to identify as a uniformed police officer," the Federal Law
Enforcement Officers Association said in a complaint to Congress.

The problem is not security leaks. It's the clothes.

In an era when "dressing down" is the traveler's creed, air marshals 
must
show up in jackets and ties, hair cut short, bodies buffed, shoes 
shined.

Jack Webb would be proud, but the marshals say they stand out like
shampooed show dogs among the pound pups.

And the tip-off provided by their appearance is magnified by boarding
procedures that make them conspicuous. Since they're armed, the marshals
can't go through the initial security screening with the rest of the
passengers. Instead of using the entry points set aside for airport
employees, however, the marshals often must go through the "exit" lanes 
--
marching against the flow of arriving passengers, at times in full view 
of
travelers.

"They lose the advantage" of being undercover, said John Amat, a 
spokesman
for the marshals within the federal law officers group.

Officials with the Federal Air Marshal Service, however, defended their
sartorial standards.

"Professional demeanor, attire and attitude gain respect," said 
spokesman
David M. Adams. "If a guy pulls out a gun and he's got a tattoo on his 
arm
and (is wearing) shorts, I'm going to question whether he's a
law-enforcement officer."

The air marshal service has grown from about 30 officers at the time of
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to several thousand today, operating 
under
a $600 million annual budget.

With the expansion has come an infusion of federal law-enforcement
culture. The director of the air marshals, Thomas Quinn, who took over 
in
January 2002, spent 20 years with the Secret Service.

"Secret Service people are notoriously known for being snappy dressers,"
said Capt. Steve Luckey, security chairman for the Air Line Pilots
Association.

And it was after Quinn took over, marshals said, that the strict rules 
on
dress and grooming were instituted, including a ban on beards, long hair
and jeans.

But today's airliner is a come-as-you-are environment. Even "if you go 
in
first class, you see the whole gamut," Luckey said, from people in 
cut-off
jeans to those in suit and tie. "I think you can go overboard with the
professionalism. ... The mission dictates flexibility and some relaxed
dress standards."

Many marshals interviewed -- who requested anonymity because they are 
not
allowed to talk to the media -- agree.

What makes them uneasy is the prospect of being spotted by terrorists 
and
disabled or killed before they can react.

"This is what I foresee," said one marshal, a two-year veteran. "Two of 
us
get on the plane, and we've been under surveillance the whole time.
There's a minimum of four bad guys. ... My partner goes to the bathroom,
and they come after me with a sharp pen, stab me in the neck or in the
brain and take my weapon," he continued. "When my partner comes out, 
they
shoot him. Then they've got 80 rounds of ammunition and two weapons."

Adams called such a scenario "highly unlikely."

Yet a congressional General Accounting Office study of a two-year period
from 2001 to 2003 found an average of about one case a week in which
marshals reported their cover was blown.

The passenger on American Flight 1438 told the marshals "he picked them
out because of their attire and the fact that they were on board before
the other passengers," an agency report on the Nov. 15, 2003, incident
said. The report did not say whether the government took action against
the man, although others who have outed air marshals have been 
prosecuted.

One marshal with previous military and law-enforcement experience said
that "a bad guy on a plane can quickly narrow the pool of potential
marshals. They're not wearing jeans, they're not wearing cargo pants. 
...
There will not be an air marshal who is unshaven. You eliminate the
unknown element."

--
Ed Swierk
eswierk () cs stanford edu

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