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Between 2021 and 2024, a significant number of suspected terrorists gained entry into the United States, potentially numbering in the thousands, due to the Biden administration’s open border policies. Aviation continues to be a prime target for those seeking to orchestrate an attack. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Federal Air Marshals have been essential in countering this ongoing threat.
With an annual budget ranging between $700 million and $800 million, American taxpayers have invested over $18 billion in the past 22 years for the Federal Air Marshal Service to ensure inflight security, identify aviation threats, and reinforce aviation defenses. Regrettably, the return on this investment has not met expectations.
Due to mismanagement by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Air Marshal Service falls short of its potential. TSA policies have weakened Air Marshal preparedness and diminished their key antiterrorism role. Decisions made by TSA have diverted Air Marshals from their primary tasks in airspace and airports, redirecting them to TSA priorities at the expense of their essential law enforcement responsibilities. This reallocation of resources undermines the singular law enforcement entity tasked with safeguarding our aviation sector, a mistake that must be rectified.
There is a way forward, and it begins with getting the Air Marshals out of TSA.
Legislation is currently being developed by Congress to release the Air Marshals from TSA’s restrictive bureaucracy and regulations. The proposed legislation, still under legislative council review, aims to enable Air Marshals to:
- Develop aviation specific intelligence
- Make aircrafts harder targets for terrorists
- Investigate aviation crimes and incidents
- Improve Air Marshal training, candidates, and culture
It is vital for Air Marshals to be assigned to flights based on confirmed intelligence. Our position within the federal law enforcement framework is distinctive, necessitating a different approach to processing and utilizing intelligence compared to other agencies. The inadequacies of the TSA were notably exposed through the Quiet Skies incident, where Air Marshals were directed to monitor Tulsi Gabbard using unverified data sourced from Customs and Border Protection. Thankfully, vigilant whistleblowers brought this to my attention, I informed Congress, and the subsequent repercussions have finally ended the Quiet Skies error. Federal Air Marshals should not pursue innocent Americans based on unrelated data collected by various agencies. The Air Marshal Service needs to invest in a specialized team of intelligence analysts to collaborate directly with our Air Marshals in making informed decisions regarding risk mitigation and flight assignments.
Federal Air marshals in training re-enter the TSA training center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on November 7, 2023. (Rachel Wisniewski/Getty Images)
A federal air marshal service instructor gets ready to demonstrate drawing his gun at a training session held at the TSA training center in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 7, 2023. (Rachel Wisniewski/Getty Images)
Future Federal Air Marshals participate in a shooting exercise at the Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, on March 29, 2017. (Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)
We need to do a better job at making aircraft difficult to attack in flight. We cannot hire enough Air Marshals to work the almost 25,000 daily U.S. operated commercial flights, but there are better solutions. The Air Marshal Service must arm more pilots, and make it easier for them to take on this additional responsibility. We must train more flight crew in self-defense, teach tactics to counter violence, and work with airlines to provide this as recurrent training. We must cross train other federal agents to Air Marshal tactical standards so that we have a ready reserve in case of future need. We must capture and utilize data on law enforcement officers flying armed, armed pilots, and defensively trained crew so that we can make informed vulnerability and threat assessments.
But simply having more Air Marshals and trained crew on board aircraft is not enough. We must find the terrorists in the planning stages, when they are most vulnerable. We must commit to developing Air Marshal investigative capabilities, generating unique casework, and becoming a static federal presence at airports. When criminals commit crimes at airports, Air Marshals need to be involved. The motives and methods of smuggling five pounds of heroin on board an aircraft are the same as smuggling five pounds of explosives. Aviation is used daily by criminal organizations of every kind, and Air Marshals need to analyze their methods and apply countermeasures.
There was once a time when Air Marshals had the highest shooting and tactical standards in federal law enforcement. I accepted the Air Marshal position after finishing Ground Zero recovery efforts in 2002, and all new agents were required to shoot a difficult FAA aviation tactical pistol course to be hired. We went on to train regularly in 360-degree shoot houses, we were put through physical and tactical conditioning sessions four times a month, and we spent six to eight hours at the range each week firing thousands of rounds of ammunition. Every Air Marshal was certain of the other’s skills and capabilities, and we all knew that there was nobody coming to save us at 35,000 feet.
Today, Air Marshal standards have been lowered to match basic federal law enforcement minimums. Over the past decade, TSA did not hire for excellence; they hired for gender and race. Air Marshal instructors were ordered to pass failing security screeners who applied for the job. The culture of the Air Marshals has crumbled, and it needs to change immediately. Standards must be raised to the old FAA levels, assessments must be gender and color blind, because during a hijacking the only thing that matters is fitness, skill, and precision. Finally, TSA management and leadership must be left behind to ensure a fresh start in the new agency.
The Air Marshal mission is succinct and finite: protect aircraft and aviation from terrorist attacks. As long as the Air Marshal Service is housed within another larger agency with a different mission, Air Marshals will be poached for other duties and their antiterrorism role will be further diluted. Air Marshals want out of TSA. Fortunately, lawmakers in the House and Senate understand what is at stake and are close to introducing legislation which will create a standalone agency for Federal Air Marshals.
The reset of the Federal Air Marshals cannot happen quickly enough. The terrorists are here, they are preparing, and time is running out.
John Casaretti is founder and President of the Air Marshal Association, the labor organization exclusively representing over 4000 current and former Federal Air Marshals. He is the whistleblower who exposed the Quiet Skies program in 2018 and provided Congress and Tulsi Gabbard with detailed information about her surveillance by Federal Air Marshals in 2024. John is also a key whistleblower in the 2024 FEMA scandal where Air Marshals assigned to assist FEMA workers were directed to skip the homes of supporters of President Trump.
