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RSSWashington, DC (PRWEB) February 26, 2014
Much of the information pertaining to the Federal Air Marshal Service is highly classified, as it should be. For example, the number of gun carrying Air Marshals is classified so highly that not even working Air Marshals know their exact strength. The deployment of Air Marshals is so classified that no mention can be made of their working schedules or tactics. Any information about the nation’s premier counter terrorism agency needs to be hidden from America’s enemies. These warriors are the last safety catch between the aviation industry and another, perhaps more dramatic 9/11 attack.
The men and women who hold the title “Air Marshal” are dedicated professionals who endure hardships which would force many lesser individuals to quit. They quietly accept long separations from children and spouses. They accept working beyond the levels that flight crews and their unions consider to be unhealthy. They even spend more time in the air than military personnel consider to be healthy. They are not home for holidays, birthdays, or anniversaries, yet they believe in their purpose and continue to blend in with the public that they protect every day.
The mission of an Air Marshal is dangerous. These individuals work inside an aluminum tube, traveling more than 500 miles per hour, at 30,000 feet in the air. If something goes wrong, nobody is coming to help. They can’t call for backup, if they are out-numbered. They can’t call an explosives disposal team to help. They train diligently so that they are prepared to handle any adverse situation on their own. These brave men and women are almost universally chosen from the ranks of elite military and police units. Before becoming Air Marshals they were Seals, Special Forces, Rangers, Marines, SWAT, Snipers, and other career fields where the weak just can’t exist. They are some of America’s finest warriors. They have volunteered to risk their lives yet again, as Air Marshals.
Concerned about the public’s safety, Air Marshals are risking their careers and their reputations to come out against the scheduled base closures, because they believe these closures will weaken the safety of America’s skies. There is a documented history of the Air Marshal Service punishing whistle blowers. So when men of this caliber risk themselves to expose a problem, the public should start asking questions.
Why close these bases? Air Marshals allege that the base closures do not make sense from a tactical or strategic sense. They further claim that the same closures were originally proposed by Air Marshal Management as a cost cutting measure until cost analysis disproved that argument. Many Air Marshals feel that the agency is too top heavy to properly perform the mission of the agency, since the bulk of the budget goes to overhead rather than agents in the air. The Federal Air Marshal Service employs nearly three times the supervisory personal than comparative agencies like the DEA, ATF, and FBI. This has always been viewed as odd due to the nature of this agency. Because Air Marshals operate in small teams without the guidance of any supervisors, the individual Air Marshal has less need of supervisors than equivalent federal agents.
Air Marshals compare this struggle against base closure to the earlier fight with TSA Administrator, John Pistole, over his decision to allow knives on planes. The decision to close bases comes just days after the TSA released information about “shoe bomber” style threats against American aircraft. It seems that there is a disconnect between senior management and the guys who defend the planes.
Several members of the House and Senate are already involved and looking into the issues that Air Marshals have raised. There are Congressmen from the right and the left involved in this probe. The issue is the security of the American people; political parties are irrelevant here. Ironically, most members of Congress do not possess the high security clearance necessary to review relevant data about Air Marshal deployment. This leaves members of Congress in the dubious position of having to ask the same people who are being accused of mismanagement for information that would potentially prove that mismanagement has indeed taken place. You can help these men and women, as they take this stand for you, by calling your representatives and asking them to look into these matters.