The ranking Democrat of the House Homeland Security Committee is having second thoughts about his recent assertion that the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) appears to have revised policies that threaten to identify air marshals to potential terrorists.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., recently issued a statement saying criticisms of FAMS in a June House Judiciary Committee report and the media are outdated. The report said that FAMS was “oblivious” to air security gaps, among other things.

Thompson perceived that the report’s conclusions were too hard on FAMS after he received a memorandum from Kip Hawley, assistant secretary of the Transportation Security Administration. Hawley assured Thompson in the seven-page memo that the policies of FAMS were not compromising the identifies of air marshals.

Some air marshals and at least one government oversight organization claim that some of the issues cited in the Judiciary Committee report continue to raise questions. If those claims are accurate, further Congressional investigations may be forthcoming, according to Thompson.

“If [Hawley’s] explanation is not complete, in this instance, then we will go back and see why it was incomplete and not a thorough response,” said Thompson in a phone interview. So I’ll go back again shortly with a subsequent request for further information, and if necessary we’ll have some hearings and invite both sides to come in and present their positions to the committee.”

Thompson previously stated in a press release that “it appears that many of the allegations raised by the June report are stale and have been addressed by FAMS.”

Conan Bruce, a FAMS spokesman, agreed with Thompson’s original assertions that the air marshal agency has refined its policies. “When we go have these conversations with Congress members and their staffs, we can discuss with them what we are doing to address these issues and that is why people like Rep. Thompson do a news release like he did — because he realizes these things are being addressed,” he said. “I think it is clear — at least it has been to the Congress people that we talk to — that [FAMS] Director [Dana] Brown realizes the issues and realizes that they need to be addressed.”

However, Thompson’s previous remarks also sparked alarm among some air marshals and watchdog groups and cast some doubt on whether whistleblowers would be willing to work with Thompson again.

“I am extremely disappointed in Bennie Thompson,” said Nick Schwellenbach, an investigator looking into federal air marshal claims against the service at the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based nonprofit. “Air marshals are trying to fix these problems within the administration and they are getting crushed. I don’t think any air marshal whistleblowers will go to Thompson in the future. Thompson is rolling over.”

In his July 25 memo to Thompson, Hawley responded to eight points of concern sent to the administration on June 1 by the congressman. Some air marshals contend that certain explanations provided to Rep. Thompson were embellished and misleading.

“Contrary to what TSA is privately telling members of Congress, the front-line flying air marshals have been receiving the same old rhetoric from management for the past four years, with zero positive results,” said P. Jeffrey Black, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s Nevada Chapter. “None of the numerous dangerous polices that are outlined in the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation report have ever been changed.”

Other air marshals agree that certain FAMS regulations do not achieve much and compromise the identity of the marshals.

“[FAMS has] said time and time again, ‘how do you expect to get any respect from the traveling public if you are not dressed looking like a federal agent,’ ” said an anonymous air marshal working out of a branch in the Western United States. “If it gets to that point, it is going to be your command presence and how you carry yourself [that helps] — you can’t dress someone up and give them command presence.”

In the memo sent to Thompson’s office, Hawley wrote that “FAMS initially developed policies to professionalize and stabilize its workforce,” which covered grooming, attire, lodging and code of conduct. Revisions to these FAMS regulations have occurred, but some air marshals maintain that many of the underlying problems persist.

“Without publicly disclosing what the current dress code requirements are, I can assure you that what TSA is telling members of Congress about the current dress code, and what the agency managers are actually telling individual air marshals what the dress code is, are completely two different policy versions,” Black said.

A similar problem stems from the way that air marshals board commercial airplanes. According to the explanations provided to Thompson, FAMS “instituted revised check-in procedures on July 25, 2005,” and federal security directors and FAMS have worked “together to find more discreet ways for air marshals to enter sterile areas, other than through airport exit lanes.”

However, some air marshals contend that policy changes have not been made to the boarding procedures and that air marshals continue to run great risks of being identified.

Air marshals typically must identify themselves at the check-in counter, then walk through the exit portion of the security checkpoint and identify themselves again to TSA officials. Then they are required to flash their badge a third time at the boarding area to airline personnel and lastly they must identify themselves to the captain on the airplane, said an air marshal working out of the Las Vegas field office speaking on condition of anonymity.

In cases where an air marshal is getting off of a late connecting flight and arrives late for boarding, he still must walk into the airplane’s cockpit to present identification despite being in view of passengers who have already boarded.

Accommodations where air marshals are required to stay on overnight trips have also remained problematic. In the memorandum to Thompson, Hawley wrote that the “hotel policy instituted by FAMS on August 17, 2004, does require [federal air marshals] to stay in designated hotels” with the air marshals being free to “elect lodging from a range of allowable lodging options at a number of hotels in the area.”

However, the range of allowable hotel options is usually limited to two or three hotels, the anonymous air marshal in Las Vegas said. The air marshals are usually bedded in the same area, on the same floor, and the hotel staff often knows what rooms the air marshals are staying in. It would not be hard to find and harm a large group of air marshals with one strike, the anonymous marshal in Las Vegas added.

Hawley’s memo sent to Thompson also stated that FAMS Director Brown meets at an informal setting with randomly selected air marshals who are passing through Washington, D.C., on a weekly basis. Indeed, an April 4 internal Las Vegas FAMS e-mail acquired by CQ Homeland Security confirmed that specific air marshals were selected and had their biographical information forwarded to the director prior to their meeting. However, the air marshals in this case were not randomly selected but hand picked, according to the Las Vegas anonymous air marshal.

It is not appropriate to publicly discuss FAMS’s policies and procedures because it is detrimental to the service, Bruce said. FAMS has 14 different working groups, each one looking into operational polices and procedures and producing recommendations and solutions, he added.

“Based on recommendations coming out of these working groups, we have already made changes, we have already made some shifts and adjustments,” Bruce said. “We have made some adjustments that have directly impacted quality of life.”

An investigation by the House Judiciary Committee was launched subsequent to whistleblower disclosures provided by Black in August 2004.

Furthermore, Schwellenbach is currently working with numerous air marshals to document grievances with FAMS and to put out a detailed report some time next month, the investigator said.

Matthew M. Johnson can be reached at mjohnson@cq.com.

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