Lawmaker: Expand Federal Air Marshals

By Sylvia Adcock | STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2001

They train in a junked Boeing 727 in Atlantic City, N.J., learning how to discharge a firearm without disabling an airplane, how to take down a terrorist without taking down everyone else.

Experts, however, say the number of federal air marshals, an elite, highly trained corps deployed in plainclothes on random flights, has dwindled to only a handful of agents, too few to deter hijackers.

That may change in coming weeks. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) last week introduced legislation to add a $1 surcharge on domestic flights to pay for a dramatic expansion of the air marshals force.

Former President Ronald Reagan used marshals in the sky in the 1970s to deter hijackings to Cuba. The current program began after the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, an Athens-to-Rome flight that was diverted to Beirut. Armed with handguns, the hijackers held the pilots and passengers prisoner for 17 days and murdered a U.S. Navy diver.

Today, the Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the program, won't reveal the number of agents or how they are deployed.

"Several years ago, they numbered in the hundreds, but the emphasis went off over the years because of the perceived lack of threat," said William Vincent, former security chief for the FAA and now a consultant.

Two days after last week's attack, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he planned to expand the force and began talking to the Defense Department about using the Army's elite Delta Forces. Later, the FAA said it determined the use of Delta forces was not practical, but he said the agency is still working to expand the number of marshals.

Training is rigorous. Marshals learn their skills in a live-fire shoothouse configured as both a wide-body and a narrow-body aircraft with computer-controlled targets. In addition to the 727, they also use a retired L-1011 for on-board exercises.

The chief concern is making sure bullets don't cripple flight control systems. Control cables run along the fuselage, for instance, and could be vulnerable. Marshals use special ammunition designed to penetrate flesh but not layers of aluminum.

"The program is based on minimum use of force, but that force can be lethal," the FAA said in a statement.

Vincent said an easy way to augment the forces would be to give FBI agents, who normally travel with their weapons, training on using guns on an aircraft. That could be expanded to other law enforcement officials, and whenever a police officer or FBI agent took a commercial flight, he or she could work as an air marshal.

"It's impossible to put one on every flight," Vincent said. "But you could make a significant contribution to their numbers."

Hutchison's office said the proposed legislation doesn't specify a target number. With $1 a ticket and 600 million flights last year, the money could pay for enough marshals to deter hijackers, said Lisette Mondello, a spokeswoman for Hutchison. The bill would give the FAA 30 days to put together a program to increase the number of marshals.

Some safety experts think the FAA should put an armed guard on every commercial flight.

"We would need thousands," said Paul Hudson, director of the Aviation Consumer Action project. "But if you're fighting a war, that's not so unreasonable."