The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) originated in 1968 as the Federal Aviation Administration’s Sky Marshal Program and was later expanded by President Ronald Reagan and Congress in 1985 through the International Security and Development Cooperation Act.

FAMS was transferred into the Transportation Security Administration after its creation in November 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The service’s ranks have expanded from 33 air marshals to an undisclosed number believed to be in the thousands working out of 21 field offices across the country.

After President Bush ordered the rapid expansion of FAMS, many new agents were plucked from other federal agencies like the U.S. Customs Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, U.S. Capitol Police and local law enforcement departments, as well as various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

FAMS is currently the primary law enforcement force within TSA and continues to operate to detect, deter and defeat hostile acts targeting U.S. air carriers, airports, passengers and crew.

After FAMS was initially put under the umbrella of TSA, it came under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003. Jurisdiction over FAMS was later transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November 2003 only to be returned back to TSA in October 2005.

In December 2005, federal air marshals shot and killed a 44-year-old U.S. passenger of American Airlines Flight 924 leaving out of Miami International Airport. Rigoberto Alpizar was shot by air marshals after he ran up the aisle of the plane and onto the boarding bridge after the other passengers were seated.

FAMS claimed Alpizar yelled “I have a bomb in my bag,” but some passengers on the plane said they did not hear him say anything. Alpizar’s wife — who was also aboard the flight — and his mother-in-law both said that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In December 2005, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that President Bush was satisfied that the air marshals aboard the flight acted appropriately during the incident.

FAMS has also received criticism from whistle-blowing air marshals who have made grievances about suspicious activity report quotas, regulation in-flight attire and grooming, boarding processes and hotel reservation procedures. As of September 2006, the FAMS standards of dress policy and the hotel reservation policy were amended to allow air marshals to dress as they see fit for their flights and allow them to book their own hotel accommodations.

The service also sent hundreds of air marshals to participate in rescue operations during the crisis in New Orleans related to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and during the evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon after Israeli jets began an air bombing campaign in July 2006.