FBI to air marshals: Your cover is blown

[Bronx33]

http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=1658489

Is the media out of control? is the goverment stupid? why is this info availiable? are we our own worse enemies?

A convicted terrorist with links to al-Qaida told the FBI he used a television news report on air marshal training to assemble a theoretical strike plan, demonstrating that would-be hijackers with similar information could use it to overpower marshals. In a March 28 cable, obtained by Federal Times, the FBI informed the Homeland Security Department about the terrorist’s warnings.
Air marshals interviewed by Federal Times said their tactics and positions on aircraft have been compromised and many are livid that their management apparently allowed their training to be filmed.
“This completely exposes our positions,” said one air marshal, who spoke to Federal Times anonymously because marshals are not allowed to talk to the press. “Our element of surprise has been taken away and given to the enemy.”
The terrorist, who has been in U.S. custody for several years and is described in the FBI cable as a reliable informant, evidently gave his plan only to the FBI and not to other terrorists. He told the FBI that active terrorists could have easily assembled a similar plan based on what was broadcast.

How the terrorist came about this information is unclear because one important detail of the terrorist’s claim — the network that aired the program — is in dispute. The cable, which the Federal Air Marshal Service said it received the morning of March 28, said the terrorist claimed to have viewed a Jan. 7 report on air marshals on the Fox News Channel. But FAMS spokesman David Adams said the service has never done a story with Fox and said no Fox camera crew has ever filmed marshals training.
FAMS has let other news organizations, including NBC Nightly News, film aspects of marshals’ operations and training, prompting outcries from marshals and the law enforcement organization representing them that management was ruining their cover and exposing their methods.
The last media report showing air marshal training aired in February 2005 on CNN, Adams said.
Fox News did not return telephone calls inquiring about the alleged segment.
However the terrorist came about his information, he evidently knew enough for marshals to be infuriated at what they see as a loose-lipped management.
The terrorist gave the FBI a document March 10 that outlined what he had learned from the purported news report. The terrorist said the program revealed training techniques that suggested ways for a terrorist to defeat air marshals during a hijacking.
According to the FBI cable, the terrorist told the FBI that the broadcast showed where marshals typically sit on an aircraft, their hand-to-hand combat techniques, and their firing positions. It showed how an air marshal would shoot at a standing hijacker or a hijacker who was holding a hostage.
He told the FBI that terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, which hijacked four planes on Sept. 11 and killed thousands, could use the seating locations of air marshals to identify them. A team of hijackers could add one or two extra terrorists to take out the exposed marshal or marshals, allowing the rest of the terrorists to take control of the aircraft, the informant said.
The memo did not identify the informant. The terrorist had ties to al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden, the FBI said.
The FBI noted that it did not have any intelligence that indicated active terrorists are using this information to target marshals.
Air marshals and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), which represents more than 1,300 marshals, have complained for more than two years that FAMS was releasing classified information to the media about the methods air marshals use.
An April 2004 letter to Congress from Jon Adler, then-national secretary of FLEOA, warned that an NBC Nightly News report aired two months earlier revealed how many marshals fly on each mission, where they sit, what they look for, the type and model of personal data assistant, or PDA, they use to communicate with each other during a mission, and the type and model weapon marshals use.
Adler also said a November 2003 report aired on a local Miami station showed the step-by-step methods marshals would use during a hijacking. This included how they take a dominant position over hijackers and how they contact the pilot and use the crew during emergencies.
Adams said media coverage of air marshals builds the public’s confidence in airline security and deters terrorists from trying to hijack planes, and said the strategy is succeeding.
But he said FAMS is careful not to reveal sensitive information in its statements and media reports. Some marshals and FLEOA disagree.
Though FAMS allowed training and methods to be filmed, it is notoriously tight-lipped about other aspects of the marshals program. For example, it refuses to say how many marshals it employs. Some marshals have estimated there are 3,000 in their ranks. Others say the actual number is much smaller due to morale problems that have driven some marshals away.
Adler, now national executive vice president of FLEOA, said in a March 29 interview that the FBI’s memo validates his group’s concerns and proves terrorists are studying media reports to spot and exploit weaknesses in airline security.
Former FAMS director Thomas Quinn, who retired Feb. 3, “dismissed us as whining malcontents,” Adler said.
But Adler feels Quinn’s replacement, Dana Brown, understands the importance of maintaining marshals’ cover. Adler said that FLEOA president Art Gordon so far has had two telephone conversations with Brown and that Brown promised to address marshal safety and maintain the secrecy of such classified information.
Adams said FAMS’ operations have not been compromised. Adams said the service constantly revises its methods and said the FBI memo does not change anything.
Adler said now that marshals’ tactics are exposed, they must change their positions and fighting methods.
And the current practice of boarding marshals before all other passengers makes marshals sitting ducks and must change, Adler said. This practice was also cited by the terrorist informant as a way to identify marshals.
But marshals interviewed by Federal Times were despondent. They said the methods Fox News allegedly aired were the best they could use to subdue terrorists during a flight, and those tactics are now ruined.
“This bell can’t be unrung,” a marshal said.

[broncocalijohn]

The terrorist forgot one thing: They wont be fighting one or two air marshals, they will be up against 200 plus passengers with every possible weapon on the 4 or 5 terrorists. No one will go down w/o a fight.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by broncocalijohn

The terrorist forgot one thing: They wont be fighting one or two air marshals, they will be up against 200 plus passengers with every possible weapon on the 4 or 5 terrorists. No one will go down w/o a fight.

what does that have to do with this ? the whole Idea behind covert means you dont show the operation on TV ....... why put a bulls eye on the air marshal to begin with ?

[broncocalijohn]

evens things out. We like a good fight. Come on Spide dont take the response so directly to the thread. It isnt the first or last time. Ease up you need your sleep daddy.