The Security Mentor

That's what a Federal air marshal told reporters. He's not alone. He and his colleagues are fed up with nonsense policies that management refuses to change, policies which make it trivially easy for a terrorist to tell which passenger is the air marshal.

Denver's Channel 7 reports

Federal air marshals across the country are telling 7NEWS that airline passengers' safety has been compromised and managers lied to Congress to cover it up.

Have the marshals tried to work within the system?

"We're standing on top of the mountains and we're screaming at the top of our lungs to change these things, and our agency isn't listening," said a federal air marshal.

Their management hasn't even responded to criticism from a Congressional report.

Via the Stupid Security blog, another article from the same people describes what TSA management is doing.

When an air marshal sees someone who might be a terrorist spying on a potential target, the air marshal is supposed to file a Surveillance Detection Report (SDR). These reports go into our national intelligence stream. The SDRs might get someone on a no-fly list or even a list of suspected terrorists. So filling out these reports must be taken really seriously, right?

7News found differently:

...several air marshals object to a July 2004 memo from top management in the Las Vegas office, a memo that reminded air marshals of the SDR requirement.

The body of the memo said, "Each federal air marshal is now expected to generate at least one SDR per month."

How are the marshals responding to the quota?

"To meet this quota, to get their raises, do you think federal air marshals in Las Vegas are making some of this stuff up?" Kovaleski asked.

"I know they are. It's a joke," an air marshal replied.

Do these reports just gather dust?

What kind of impact would it have for a flying individual to be named in an SDR?

"That could have serious impact ... They could be placed on a watch list. They could wind up on databases that identify them as potential terrorists or a threat to an aircraft. It could be very serious," said Don Strange, a former agent in charge of air marshals in Atlanta. He lost his job attempting to change policies inside the agency.