by twit
is proud to bring you this understatement of the day:
“This is an agency or department that is critical for the U.S. long-term security needs,” [Former Rep. Tim] Roemer [D-Indiana] said. “So the basic building blocks, the front line of defense are air marshals. If you’re not providing that safety for our people on a pretty basic program seven years after 9/11, we’ve got a lot of work to do at the department, and probably Congress has a lot more work to do on its oversight.”
about the TSA:
Of the 28,000 commercial airline flights that take to the skies on an average day in the United States, fewer than 1 percent are protected by on-board, armed federal air marshals, a nationwide CNN investigation has found.
which denies the number is so low:
The TSA refuses to release either the total number of marshals regularly assigned to flights or a percentage of daily flights that are covered, but called the numbers given to CNN “a myth.”
but asserts that the real percentage of “covered flights” is also ridiculously low:
Air marshals told CNN that while the TSA tells the public it cannot divulge numbers because they are classified, the agency tells its own agents that at least 5 percent of all flights are covered.
even if you play fast and loose with how you count whether a flight is “covered.”
… the marshal service considers a flight “covered” even if a marshal is not on board — as long as a law enforcement officer or pilot in possession of a firearm is on board, even if that person is flying for personal reasons. The “covered” designation includes pilots armed in the cockpit.
Recent Comments