[UPDATE BELOW] CNN has conducted a shocking investigation, and revealed their findings today. What CNN has found was that out of the 28,000 daily commercial airline flights in the United States, fewer than 1 percent are protected by on-board, armed federal air marshals.
CNN reportedly interviewed more than a dozen air marshals and pilots which concluded that a terrorist bent on taking over an aircraft would be confronted by a trained air marshal on as few as 280 daily flights.
One pilot who crisscrosses the country and flies internationally told CNN he hasn’t seen an air marshal on board one of his flights in six months. A federal law enforcement officer, who is not affiliated with the air marshal service and who travels in and out of Washington every week, said he has gone for months without seeing a marshal on board.
While the TSA refused to disclose the accurate number of marshals to CNN, air marshals told CNN that the agency tells its own agents that at least 5 percent of all flights are covered. But air marshals across the country said the 5 percent figure is not possible.
One marshal said that while security is certainly one reason the numbers are kept secret, he believes the agency simply doesn’t want taxpayers to know the truth.
UPDATE: Shortly after CNN released their findings to the public, the TSA went on a ‘damage-control-mission’ – and issued the following statement:
Many thousands of dedicated and highly trained Federal Air Marshals work diligently around the globe to make air travel safer than it has ever been. The Federal Air Marshal Service employs an intelligence driven, risk based approach to selecting flights to cover each and every day. The air marshal deployment strategy, in combination with all of TSA’s layers of security, maximizes the protections air marshals provide.
Since 9/11, air marshal attrition is 6.5 percent annually. This attrition rate is in line with other federal law enforcement agencies and has allowed the service to deploy air marshals in this intelligence driven, risk based manner.
Because of this low attrition rate and a comprehensive training program, the Federal Air Marshal Service has been able to rapidly and effectively deploy law enforcement professionals where they are needed most, including deployments to New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina; to Cyprus to aid evacuation efforts during the civil unrest in Lebanon in 2006; and during the heightened threats to aviation security in London in August of 2006.
Thousands of federal air marshals fly around the globe day in and day out to ensure the safety of the traveling public. These dedicated public servants also stand ready at a moment’s notice to answer the call of duty whenever and wherever they are needed.
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21 Responses
As long as we need to take off our shoes at the airport, and nobody brings a bottle of soda onboard, and our elderly grandparents are frisked at security, the skies are safe and we don’t need any of those air marshals anyway.
once again
let’s report this (and all other security flaws) to the terrorists….
the stupidity in this country is amazing
Does each and every flight need an armed agent on board? Most flights are intercity with relatively small planes, and small risk. 280 a day doesn’t sound so small and don’t forget its the the deterrent value that on any flight there might be one that we are really relying on. CNN did no one a service by publicizing this fact and lessening this deterrent factor.
The public is not supposed to know how many marshalls are on any flight or who they are. It is supposed to be undercover so that would-be terrorists could be caught off-guard. If it is true what they reported here,it should not be publicized for our enemies to see..Maybe the “little old lady” in the corner,might be an undercover cop,dressed up?
my question is, what exactly can an air marshall do if a plane is hi-jacked 30,000 feet above land?
Another shining example how the media doesn’t care and has no sense of responsibility…
i second kollelman
but then again CNN is looking to creater another war with their rashad on the ground covering it all, its alll just business
Yidden! Wake up!
It isn’t the air marshalls that protect us in the skies (or anywhere else) ! It is the Ribono Shel Olam! The more we daven and the more we do what we are supposed to do, the better we will deserve divine protection!
As long as there are air marshalls out there, that is all the deterrent the government wants. The bad guys surely know that there won’t be air marshalls on every flight, so even at a 50-50 chance (which means the government would have to fly air marshalls on one out of every two flights), all it takes is 2 guys to mathematically beat the odds.
So does it really matter if it’s 1% of flights or 10% of flights? Unfortunately, there are much bigger problems in this world today, but CNN did get a great sound-bite, which is probably why they ran the story.
To #5,
The FDA has just approved a new lethal drug to use in case of emergency on board. Its called…um… whats the name again…? Oh yes-a GUN..
Come on here.
to #10..so we shouldnt have police, fire dept, drs ,hospitals. just daven.. yisrael shouldnt have IDF,USAF etc etc…nor vos den, oilom k’minhogo noieg..but we have to do the hishtadlis and daven we should be spared ..dovid hamelech in t’hillim “l’o b’charbi eftoch..” means he did carry on war, as you well know, but did not depend on koichy v’otzem yodi but asked riboni shel olom he should he be matzliach and of course went with the reshus of urim v’tumim (if was noheg before bsis hamikdosh?)..by the way “boruch hashem” do you have a lock on your door?
abi meleibt #12
uhhh i know what a gun is, i heard of it.
think of what happened on 9/11. out of 4 planes only 1 plane was able to stop the terrorists!
there is only ONE thing that can stop a terrorist and that is the MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE! so please don’t go putting yr trust in guns!
to #14 lgbg.. see #13
jent1150
i never said that there shouldn’t be any cops, soldiers…. i’m saying that an air marshall can’t stop a terrorist from blowing up a plane!
To #5, 14 and 16(a.k.a-lgbg)
“i’m saying that an air marshall can’t stop a terrorist from blowing up a plane! ”
As the below article presents…Please do some research before stating ‘facts’…
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec05/miami_12-7.html
to #13 and #15, I never said we shouldn’thave police, firemen, IDF and air marshalls….what I said was we shouldn’t put our TRUST in them!!!
Of course we have to do hishtadlus and Olam K’Minhago Noheg etc. but when something goes wrong, don’t think for a second that it would have been better had we had an air marshall there! Hashem was, is and will always be the boss!
At the end of the day, when you make it through a flight safely (or across a bridge, or through a fire etc.) it is thanks to Hashem for listening to our tefillos and having rachmanus on us, not for ANY other reason!
to #17.. so then what was your point in saying what you said regarding this news item…don’t we all say tfilas haderech when on flight? are you upset at CNN for not mentioning your thoughts?
#10, Boruch Hashem you are not running the country otherwise we will all be in grave danger. Having armed marshalls is an extra security precaution. The Torah states he who comes to kill you , stand up and kill him first. Remember that? So it has nothing to do with trust or bitachon, it has to do with shemiras hanefesh. Use your sense before you make an idiotic statement like that.
#20 I respectfully disagree with you. did you forgetthe words of Dovid Hamelech…”Im Hashem Lo Yishmor Ir, Shov Shokat Shomer…”
basically, if Hashem doesnt watch over us, all the shomrim (air marshals et al) are in vain.
abi melebt
do you have a mezuzah in your house? or do you sleep with a gun under your pillow?