TSA Reverses Itself After Budget Cuts

Just 24 hours after news reports that air marshals had been yanked by the TSA from cross-country and international flights, the sky cops are "immediately" resuming their duties.  MSNBC.com broke the story on Tuesday, reporting that, because of the costs associated with overnighting the air marshals at their destination points, the TSA had curtailed their stints aboard commercial passenger flights.

"Over the past weekend, the US Department of Homeland Security began taking the appropriate steps to ensure the mission of the federal air marshals continues unaltered and where appropriate, in fact, expands," the source told MSNBC.com Wednesday.

Just the day before, several air marshals contacted the web-based news site to report they'd received text messages on their pagers advising them to check their schedules. When they checked, they found that, starting Friday, they weren't scheduled for any flights that would require them to spend the night at a hotel. Such cross-country flights were the very type hijacked by terrorists on September 11th, 2001, and crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

To make it all the more unintelligible, the cutbacks in air marshal services came as the Bush Administration and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned a new round of terror hijackings could be attempted by members of the al Qaeda and their followers. Like the 9/11 attacks, these would involve cells of approximately five hijackers each. Debriefings with at least one al Qaeda operative now in US custody indicate the hijackers would try to use common carry-on items as weapons. Further, as ANN reported Tuesday, the intelligence, which was reportedly corroborated through electronic intercepts, indicated the hijackers would try to co-opt passengers by promising they weren't on suicide missions, but out to take hostages.

Filling A $900 Million Gap

The problem is simply one of money. The TSA has a $900 million hole in its budget. It's cutting back on screeners and security training as well as on the air marshal program. To some members of Congress, especially in the wake of 9/11, that just doesn't make sense.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) called the cuts "nonsensical" Wednesday in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Ridge. In the letter, Schumer demands DHS "immediately reverse reported plans to cut air marshal service on coast-to-cost and international flights " in light of intelligence indicating that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups may have stepped up plans" to launch attacks on airlines, according to MSNBC.com. Schumer's letter says, "according to statements by TSA officials, the "proposed cuts in the air marshal program come in response to a $900 million budget hole at the agency."

It's the latest problem to beset the air marshal program. Last month, MSNBC.com reported about 100 of the several thousand people hired as air marshals and given advanced training had been grounded because of problems with their security background checks. Some marshals, according to the web site, were flying even before their background checks had been finalized.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.dhs.gov