The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Looks Forward to Working with New Air Marshal Director

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) is encouraged the Bush administration will soon name a new Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), who will bring stability and unity back to an agency that has been consistently wrought with internal dissension and low morale.

LEWISBERRY, PA (PRWEB) January 23, 2006 -- The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) is encouraged the Bush administration will soon name a new Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), who will bring stability and unity back to an agency that has been consistently wrought with internal dissension and low morale.

On January 5, 2006, the current Federal Air Marshal Director, Thomas D. Quinn, announced his retirement.

The FAMS Director is a critical position and currently serves a dual role within TSA, as the Assistant Administrator for the TSA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) and the Director of the FAMS. This individual will have oversight over the TSA criminal investigators (AFSD-LE) assigned to the Federal Security Directors, who investigate potential threats against our nation’s transportation systems and the Federal Air Marshals who fly everyday to protect our nation’s aircraft and the flying public. This individual must reinvigorate the TSA Office of Law Enforcement and forge a close working relationship with the Federal Security Directors, the Assistant Federal Security Directors for Law Enforcement and the Federal Air Marshal Service. FLEOA believes that a strong unified law enforcement entity within TSA is necessary to protect our nation’s transportation infrastructure.

FLEOA is confident the Bush administration will choose a new Director who can immediately establish a sense of respect and trust from each and every front-line air marshal diligently working to prevent hostile acts on our nation's aircraft. The new Director must possess exceptional ethics and leadership qualities that have been developed over many years of rising through the ranks, and which have been gained through extensive experience working "on the streets" as a federal law enforcement officer.

It is essential for the success of the mission of TSA, that the new FAMS Director be prior Senior Executive Service (SES), who has successfully managed a multi-million dollar budget, and who possesses substantial intelligence gathering and aviation security experience, such as the direct supervision of hundreds of undercover federal agents conducting investigations and working covertly to collect intelligence in an aviation environment.

FLEOA is looking forward to working closely with the new Director, and it is hopeful that the newly established dialogue and discourse created, will immediately inspire confidence and positive morale among air marshals, and as a result, most air marshals will choose to remain with the agency, and the Federal Air Marshal Service will once again become one of the finest and most respected federal law enforcement agencies in the country.

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) was founded in 1977 and is the largest nonpartisan professional association today representing exclusively over 24,000 active and retired federal law enforcement officers. www.FLEOA.org

Contact:
Jon Adler, National Executive Vice-President
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
PO Box 326
Lewisberry, P A 17339
(917) 715-8465

###