Air marshals charge new policies could endanger passengers By Blake Morrison, USA TODAY McALLEN, Texas =97 When Jose Rodriguez joined the federal air marshal= program=20 in June, he planned to stay at least two years. He quit after five months.= =20 An exit interview form filled out by his supervisor and obtained by USA=20 TODAY described Rodriguez as "an asset to the program." But like scores of= =20 other marshals hired after the Sept. 11 attacks, Rodriguez, 33, says he was= =20 driven off by managers who "lied to and betrayed" him and others. The=20 program that government officials consider the key to thwarting hijackings= =20 isn't what it claims to be, he says, and he worries that its failings could= =20 endanger public safety. "Too many people are quitting =97 good people, the= =20 best," says Rodriguez, the first former air marshal hired after the attacks= =20 to speak publicly about the top-secret program. "The public needs to know=20 how we're being treated and why we're leaving." Confidential documents=20 obtained by the newspaper and interviews with Rodriguez and nearly three=20 dozen current and former air marshals from 11 regional offices also raise=20 questions about whether program officials may be compromising security as=20 they try to put marshals aboard as many flights as possible: Despite=20 policies that require at least two marshals on each assigned flight,=20 marshals in the New York field office were told they would have to fly=20 alone if their partners call in sick, documents show. Marshals who=20 completed a recent training regimen in Atlantic City say they also were=20 warned they could fly solo. Aviation security analysts contend putting lone marshals on flights might=20 enable a group of unarmed hijackers to take a gun from a marshal, a=20 possibility that would leave passengers more vulnerable than if no marshal= =20 were aboard. Marshals must accept any seat an airline offers, "even if your= =20 assigned seat is not 'tactically' sound," a memo sent Nov. 22 by managers=20 to marshals in New York says. Marshals who recently completed training also= =20 say they were told of the new policy. "My God, that's crazy. It's idiocy,"= =20 says Billie Vincent, the former director of security for the Federal=20 Aviation Administration who helped resurrect the air marshal program in the= =20 1980s. Such a policy contradicts the program's standard operating=20 procedures. Those rules call for marshals to have unobstructed access to=20 the jet's aisle and, preferably, to sit near the cockpit to protect it from= =20 hijackers. Even if they believe their cover has been blown before a flight,= =20 marshals in the Atlanta field office have been told they must continue with= =20 their missions, documents show. "The actual or perceived compromise of your= =20 identity is never a sufficient reason to abort your assigned flight," a=20 memo sent Dec. 10 by the acting head of the Atlanta office reads. Marshals= =20 say that could leave them =97 and passengers =97 vulnerable to attack= because=20 an unarmed terrorist might then be able to gain access to a weapon. "If=20 somebody knows who I am, anyone can come up and slit my throat. And then he= =20 has a gun," says one marshal who joined the program early this year. Some marshals say they use over-the-counter stimulants such as No-Doz to=20 stay awake during flights. Others take what they call "power naps" just=20 after takeoff and battle vertigo. When marshals were hired earlier this=20 year, they were promised four-day workweeks to compensate for the rigors of= =20 constant travel. Marshals say flying five days a week, sometimes 10 hours a= =20 day, leaves them so exhausted that staying alert becomes difficult. "On=20 your fourth or fifth day, you start feeling nauseous," says Rodriguez, who= =20 resigned Nov. 22. "Sometimes, I had to go to the restroom just to splash=20 water on my face and calm myself down." Two government watchdog groups are= =20 looking into problems in the program. And one marshal faces disciplinary=20 action after he left his gun aboard a Nov. 13 flight from Detroit to=20 Indianapolis. A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration,=20 which oversees the program, confirms that the gun apparently fell between=20 seats on the Northwest Airlines flight. A cleaning crew found it. The agency responds Despite such incidents, TSA spokesman Robert Johnson says the program is=20 "going well." He says a memo sent to marshals telling them they "shall=20 continue on with the mission" if their partners call in sick was "not an=20 approved and final directive. ... Air marshals do not fly solo," he says.=20 Johnson also says marshals who say they were told of policy changes during= =20 training in late November are simply mistaken. But another memo, dated Dec.= =20 8 and sent to marshals in New York, reiterates the policy on flying alone.= =20 "... Only (Mission Operations Center) will decide whether you will be=20 scheduled to fly a solo mission," the memo sent from a team leader reads.=20 "If they do, this will be on a low profile flight that only has a small=20 number of passengers." The four flights hijacked Sept. 11 each had fewer=20 than 100 passengers. "There was no misunderstanding," insists one marshal,= =20 who says mission operations officials told marshals of the changes during=20 classes just before Thanksgiving. "They said, 'Don't be surprised if you=20 might fly solo.' Everyone was just stunned." Too conspicuous Rodriguez's account of his short tenure in the Las Vegas field office=20 suggests little has changed since August, when USA TODAY first documented=20 problems in the burgeoning program that places armed, undercover officers=20 aboard commercial flights. Before Sept. 11, 2001, fewer than 50 air=20 marshals flew, primarily on international flights. But after the attacks,=20 officials expanded the program, lowering marksmanship standards and cutting= =20 training to put marshals on flights quickly. Although the precise number of= =20 marshals flying today is classified, sources within the program now say=20 officials were not able to hire the 6,000 marshals they had hoped to=20 deploy. At its peak last summer, the program had grown to slightly more=20 than 4,000 marshals, the sources say. Since then, sources within the=20 program say hundreds of marshals have quit, been fired or transferred to=20 other federal agencies. The TSA disputes those numbers and says the=20 attrition rate is less than expected. To keep marshals flying, officials tightened sick-leave policies this fall= =20 after USA TODAY reported that 1,250 marshals called in sick during an=20 18-day period. A TSA spokesman insisted that "no such thing has ever=20 occurred." But a confidential memo from Robert Byers, the program's=20 assistant director, dated Oct. 28 =97 four days after the story =97 says= "sick=20 leave requests are running at what appears to be extraordinary levels."=20 Marshals say calling in sick is the only way to get a day off without=20 asking two months in advance. The agency also has yet to address marshals'= =20 concerns that a dress code requiring "business attire" easily identifies=20 them. Rodriguez says passengers often spotted him and his partner in=20 airports and flashed them a thumbs-up as they passed. Such episodes=20 reinforced his fear: Wearing business clothes makes marshals too=20 conspicuous. "The TSA and the government have deliberately created a=20 perception in the public's mind that we've got the cavalry here," Vincent=20 says of the air marshal program. "But the more I hear, the less comfortable= =20 I get. The government is misleading the American public." Manager called them 'amateurs' Rodriguez shares the concern. After a USA TODAY story in August documented= =20 morale problems and concerns about the dress code, TSA head James Loy=20 dismissed the report. In a letter to the editor published weeks later, he=20 called the story "irresponsible and misleading ... based of course on=20 'anonymous sources.' " That's one reason Rodriguez came forward, he says.=20 He says he and other marshals were appalled by Loy's letter and by comments= =20 from air marshal director Tom Quinn that marshals who complained were=20 "amateurs." A TSA spokesman says neither Quinn nor Loy was available for=20 comment. "When somebody is risking their lives for this nation and we're=20 being called amateurs because we made comments about being sick or we fear= =20 that we're going to be picked out for what we wear, it's not right,"=20 Rodriguez says. "When they come out and lie =97 flat out lie =97 and say= it's=20 all untrue and everything's fine, what needs to be done to help the public= =20 understand? "I know I'm going to open up a Pandora's box here. But do they= =20 not know?" he says of TSA leaders. "I hope they open their eyes." For=20 Rodriguez, who had been working as an investigator at the Hidalgo County=20 (Texas) Sheriff's Department, the appeal of becoming a marshal =97 of= serving=20 his country and going into federal law enforcement =97 was impossible to=20 resist. Just before he applied to the marshal program last summer, he had=20 been assigned to an undercover drug task force. But the air marshal job=20 paid $52,000 a year =97 about $12,000 more than his job at the sheriff's=20 department. Moreover, officials doing the hiring promised chances to ascend= =20 quickly within the marshal program. "It was just bait," Rodriguez says now. Promised a transfer, then refused When he accepted the job, Rodriguez knew he'd be stationed in Las Vegas =97= =20 more than a thousand miles from his wife and children in Texas. But like=20 other marshals, he says he was told during training that he could transfer= =20 to an office closer to home after three months on the job. Instead, he=20 says, his transfer requests were rejected with form letters, even after he= =20 arranged to swap assignments with a marshal in the Dallas field office. He= =20 says managers allowed the Dallas marshal to come to Las Vegas. But he=20 wasn't allowed to go to the Dallas or Houston offices, both closer to his=20 home near McAllen. In Rodriguez's Nov. 21 exit interview, a supervisor=20 acknowledged that Rodriguez "was advised that he would be able to transfer= =20 to the station of his choice within three months ... This agreement has not= =20 been honored." After his second transfer request was denied, Rodriguez says= =20 his decision to leave became an easy one. "I'll deal with the dress code.=20 I'll deal with working five days a week. I'll deal with being nauseous," he= =20 says. "But I need to be close to my family." Rodriguez says he was rehired= =20 last week by the sheriff's department, but he lost his seniority. Now,=20 he'll be a patrolman and make $27,000 a year =97 a $13,000 pay cut from his= =20 old job working narcotics. Fear of retaliation After USA TODAY stories earlier this year, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.,=20 asked government investigators to determine whether the marshal program was= =20 being "effectively run." The General Accounting Office and the=20 Transportation Department's inspector general subsequently launched an=20 investigation and audit, respectively. But Rodriguez holds out little hope= =20 that either agency will be able to delve deeply. He says marshals are=20 constantly reminded that they will be fired or prosecuted for talking about= =20 the program. As a result, he says, marshals are wary of anyone in the=20 federal government. During his months in the program, Rodriguez says he=20 never talked to the media. When he left, he signed a confidentiality=20 agreement that prohibits him from discussing matters of "national=20 security." He says he may be putting his law enforcement career in jeopardy= =20 by going public now. What he saw before he resigned late last month =97 and= =20 what he fears will happen in the months ahead =97 left him with little=20 choice, he says. "I'm concerned for the safety of the air marshals getting= =20 picked out =97 for the safety of the public," he says. "We're tired of=20 hearing that it's growing pains." The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT News) http://www.tntmirror.com/ (TnT News) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************