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Air
Marshal Program Expanded to Buses, Trains |
Posted:
12.14.05
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Air marshals, undercover federal agents who patrol airplanes,
are coming under new scrutiny after the shooting death of an unarmed
passenger who claimed he had a bomb last week. At the same time,
the program may be expanded to include buses and trains.
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Teams of undercover air
marshals will fan out to bus and train stations across the country
this week to test a program designed to "counter potential
criminal terrorist activity in all modes of transportation,"
according to internal government documents described in The Washington
Post.
 The
program calls for "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response"
teams -- called "Viper" teams -- to take positions in
public areas along the East Coast and Los Angeles rail lines.
The news comes as investigators look into last week's incident in
which air marshals shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar, a U.S. citizen
traveling on an American Airlines flight from Colombia to Miami.
According to the marshals, Alpizar said he was carrying a bomb in
a backpack strapped to the front of his body.
Witnesses said Alpizar's wife, Anne Buechner, tried to explain
that he was bipolar, a mental illness also known as manic-depression,
and was off his medication.
"Based on their training they had to take the appropriate
action to defuse the situation to prevent a danger to themselves
and also passengers in the terminal," said Dave Adams, a
spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service.
No explosives were found on the aircraft. Alpizar's backpack,
which authorities blew up at a safe distance, also contained no
explosives.
The two air marshals are on paid leave, a standard practice,
according to the air marshal service.
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Who are air
marshals? |
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Although air marshals have been around since 1968, their numbers
were boosted following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
 After
9/11, the number of air marshals went from around 30 to several
thousand. The Transportation Security Administration won't say
how many are currently working, but the TSA does say the service
received more than 200,000 applications "overnight."
Many air marshals come from a law enforcement background.
Deployed undercover and never alone on flights around the world,
air marshals are supposed to detect, deter and defeat hostile
acts that target U.S. airplanes, airports, passengers and crews,
according to the air marshal service Web site.
 Held
to a higher standard for handgun accuracy than any other federal
law enforcement officers, air marshals are trained to shoot to
kill, not maim or injure, if they think there is an imminent threat.
"The bottom line is, we're trained to shoot to stop the
threat," John Amat, vice president of the Federal Law Enforcement
Officers Association, told the Associated Press.
The shooting in Miami was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks
that a marshal had fired a weapon while on duty.
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Are air marshals
trained properly? |
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Air marshals must attend a training course in Atlantic City,
N.J. They study behavioral observation, intimidation tactics and
how to use self-defense in close quarters, such as an airplane.
No serious questions have been raised about the actions of the
air marshals who killed the passenger last week. 
"From what we know, the team of air marshals acted in a
way that is consistent with the training that they have received,"
White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters.
However, some aviation safety experts question the kind of training
that air marshals receive, especially as it has undergone such
rapid changes since Sept. 11.
"There's a lot of stuff that they really never had the time
to think through, so they're always trying to tweak it. When you
do that, it can cause confusion, morale problems, and some people
lose faith in the system," Rich Gritta, an aviation expert
at the University of Portland in Oregon, told the Christian Science
Monitor.
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Recent air
travel changes |
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Air safety experts also worry that two recent airline changes
could also impact air marshal training: the decision to soon allow
passengers to carry certain sharp items like scissors aboard planes,
since cockpit doors are now reinforced, and rising incidents of
unruly passengers and air rage.
 "If
somebody shows up with a knife and is going to stab a flight attendant
or start stabbing themselves, do we shoot them?" said Andrew
Thomas, an aviation security expert at the University of Akron
in Ohio.
Others believe that the recent shooting will actually be more
reassuring than disturbing to the traveling public.
"This is a reminder they are there and are protecting the
passengers and that it is a seriously deadly business," David
Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, told the
Associated Press.
--
Compiled by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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