Is there a Federal Air Marshal on every flight

No, Federal Air Marshal's work in teams with a minimum of 2 agents. There are about 27,319 domestic flights daily. Assuming the minimum number of agents were on every flight there would need to be 54,638 Air Marshals working around the clock 7 days a week. So to account for normal working hours as well as administrative and support agents the FAMS would need to employ well over 100,000 agents. Placing Air Marshal's on EVERY flight is just not feasible. They are placed on flights that have a high probability of attack or are heading into or out of the area of special events (Super Bowl, Olympics, presidential visits, etc.).
Tidak, kerja Federal Air Marshal dalam pasukan dengan sekurang-kurangnya 2 ejen.Terdapat kirakira 27,319 penerbangan domestik setiap hari. Memikul bilangan ejenminimum di setiap penerbangan sana akan memerlukan untuk menjadi 54,638 Air Marshals bekerja tanpa henti 7 hari satu minggu. Jadi menjelaskan jam kerja biasaserta pentadbiran dan menyokong ejen FAMS akan memerlukan untuk mengambilbetul-betul lebih daripada 100,000 ejen. Meletakkan Udara Marshal di penerbangan EVERY hanya bukan munasabah. Merekameletakkan pada penerbangan yang mempunyai satu kebarangkalian tinggiserangan atau menuju ke dalam atau daripada kawasan acara istimewa (Super Bowl, Olimpik, lawatan presiden , dan lain-lain.).

Will having air marshals on board help in airline security?

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Posted on 31/03/2014 - 11:59

Ace Emerson

COMMENT: The missing MH370 with 239 people on board will forever change the aviation industry in Malaysia. Less than an hour after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner lost all communication and vanished. A massive hunt for the aircraft has entered its fourth week with the world still as bewildered as it was on the day news broke of its disappearance.

What could possibly have happened? People around the globe are baffled at how a large aircraft could simply slip out of radar and vanish into thin air. Was it foul play? A mechanical malfunction? A suicide pact? Across the nation, people ponder the most important question, Could anyone on board be still alive? This crisis may force the government to consider engaging air marshals on board Malaysian air carriers, covering flights on the domestic front and international routes, as in-flight security to help prevent any threats on board. In the United States, an air marshal is a law enforcement officer charged with maintaining the safety and security of passenger aircraft and airports. When on board a flight, the air marshal poses as a regular passenger. The top task of an air marshal is to keep constant surveillance on board an aircraft, to avert a hostile act well before it takes place. In the event that an attack or hijacking occurs, it is incumbent on the air marshal to promptly counteract the threat. Federal air marshals have been securing US flagged aircraft for more than 50 years. Ever since the very first recorded aircraft hijacking in Peru in 1931, their placement has been intricately weaved into the fabric of aviation history. Air marshals carry a gun on board to defuse any threatening situation that may arise in flight. They are highly trained to spot such hostile situations and react accordingly, using whatever means necessary to keep the passengers, as well as civilians on the ground, safe. Wearing civilian attire to blend in with the rest of the passengers, these air marshals would often be seated in first class with a directive of keeping the flight crew abreast and alive in crisis situations. In the US, air marshals fall under the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), an agency within the US Department of Homeland Security.

So if Malaysia is to adopt the idea of engaging air marshals on board every commercial carrier, who will take charge of this special task force? Do we even have such expertise in counter intelligence? Do we have the capability to train them? Whos going to pay for it? Will travellers be forced to fork out higher airfare to help fund this programme? Malaysia already has an elite squad in the Malaysian Special Operations Force, a multi-service force tasked with counter-terrorism. It is made up of 10 Paratrooper Brigade, Grup Gerak Khas (GGK), Pasukan Khas Laut (PASKAL), Pasukan Khas Udara (PASKAU), Pasukan Gerakan Khas (PGK), Unit Gempur Marin (UNGERIN), Trup Tindakan Cepat (Rapid Actions Troops) and the Special Task And Rescue (STAR). Theoretically, the eight components of this special force have been tasked with the crucial purpose of keeping Malaysia's security, particularly in dealing with terrorism. In the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, Malaysia's security agencies claimed to have learned from the event and are supposedly prepared to deal with similar terrorism acts in Malaysia. Although hijacking has not been established as the cause of MH370s disappearance, many are left wondering if the situation would have been different if the military had acted swiftly when it spotted an unidentified aircraft in the Malaysian air space in the early hours of March 8. Isnt the proper protocol in such cases to either contact commercial airport terminals for verification or to deploy military aircraft to intercept the unidentified aircraft? Whatever the case, employing air marshals on board Malaysian commercial aircraft will be welcomed by passengers, especially those who have developed a fear of flying after the MH370 saga. Still, others are not convinced.

There should be other means of ensuring flight safety other than combative measures of engaging air marshals on board, said deputy president of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca), Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah. We should focus on addressing ground se curity to avoid any unwanted terror on board first rather than initiating combative steps, he said, pointing out that if everything was in order on the ground, there would not likely be any untoward incidents up in the air. No doubt, air marshals have made a significant difference as a deterrent by their physical presence on US air carriers. As the cause of the MH370 tragedy still remains a mystery, it is timely for security at airports and on aircraft to be tightened.

The National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) suggested that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) introduce a new policy to place air marshals on board its planes. This comes after claims by Nufam that they were not consulted on the new procedural changes adopted by MAS on board its flights. In a report by The Star, Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin said some of the new guidelines include requiring a flight attendant to stand guard at the cockpit door when food is served to the pilots, a cabin crew member must sit in the flight deck until the pilot returned from the restroom, and for the crew members to keep an eye out for suspicious -looking passengers who brought their hand luggage with them into the toilet. We are not body guards, he said firmly. In addition Ismail said that flight attendants are safety professionals trained to carry out emergency procedures if anything went wrong. He added that the new guidelines would interrupt service on board as there is a shortage of cabin crew. Ismail claims that he did not receive any formal notice of the changes and only heard about it unofficially. Consultation should have been done before this was imposed. Do not hastily carry out something without prior engagement with the union or crew members themselves, he told The Star. Ismail said the changes must not be enforced until all stakeholders have been informed, and if such guidelines are necessary, it should be implemented across all airlines, not just MAS.

Read more at:http://english.astroawani.com/budget/news/show/nufam-suggests-placing-air-marshals-onboard-flights-33185?cp

MALAYSIA

Amid MH370 probe, experts moot air marshals for Malaysia

BY BOO SU-LYN AND IDA LIM MARCH 26, 2014 UPDATED: MARCH 26, 2014 03:54 PM SHARE WITH OTHERS 79
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The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has prompted experts to suggest an air marshal

programme will make air travel safer. Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR,

March 26 The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 through deliberate action despite layers of security technology is prompting experts to ask if a humble air marshal could help make air travel safer.

While police conducting a criminal investigation are yet to determine if the Beijing-bound plane fell foul to hijacking, sabotage, psychological issues or personal problems of the 239 people on board, one expert believes that one well-trained individual on board could make a crucial difference in such a scenario. Properly trained and deployed air marshals provide a critical last line of defence in a hijacking incident in-flight or on the ground, former US air marshal Marcus Wynne told The Malay Mail Online in a recent email interview. Not having air marshals means that all other security measures cannot fail; obviously they do on occasion. Air marshals can provide the ultimate fail-safe procedure, added Wynne, who served from 1989 to 1993, during the First Gulf War, in the US Federal Air Marshal Program, which was then part of the Civil Aviation Security Branch of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to Wynne, the duties of an air marshal depending on country and whether their deployment is overt or covert include profiling passengers pre-boarding; inspecting the aircraft pre-boarding for explosives; surveilling suspicious individuals before, during and after a flight; intervening against those interfering with flight crew or endangering the aircraft short of a hijacking; as well as stopping hijackers from taking control of an aircraft. In sum, all human efforts to prevent a hijacking while in flight or on the ground, he said. International terrorism expert Professor Adam Dolnik from Australias University of Wollongong stressed, however, that air marshals are just one part in the available range of air travel security measures. Its one of the steps, but its not fool-proof, Dolnik told The MalayMail Online in a recent phone interview. He added that Flight MH370 was probably not hijacked, pointing out that pilot suicide among the possibilities under investigation by Malaysian police was a more likely one.

The Czech-born researcher stressed that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US altered the dynamics of hijackings, turning passengers now fearful of death at the hands of hijackers into more effective deterrent than air marshals.
IN THE GALLERY

Steven Wang, a family member of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines MH370, stands with other family members as he reads a statemen to journalists outside Lido Hotel in Beijing March 26, 2014. Reuters pic

Steven Wang, a family member of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines MH370, reads a statement to journalists outside Lido Hotel in Beijin March 26, 2014. Reuters pic

Before September 11, we were told to sit down, shut up, and if you get hijacked, don t do anything. After [September 11], the prospect of being flown into a building and getting killed is very high.

So if somebody makes a hijacking, unless they have a machine gun, theyll find it very hard to hold off passengers. If you have a few people with knives, it just wouldnt do the trick, said Dolnik. The professor said the US air marshal service was beefed up after the 2001 attacks in which four planes were hijacked and two crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, but noted that the armed guards protecting American aircraft for decades before then had not prevented the incident. The al Qaeda attacks also spurred other countries like Australia and Singapore to deploy armed marshals on some flights. Ravi Madavaram, an aerospace and defence consultant from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, stressed that it was difficult to come up with specific recommendations as it is still unclear what caused the plane to go missing. He said, however, that air marshals and satellite technology are among the various security measures being considered for airlines. People are even considering things like (how) pilots should not have the capability to switch off the transponder, Ravi told The Malay Mail Online, referring to the onboard radio transmitter in the cockpit that relays the aircrafts position, altitude and identity to ground controllers. On MH370, investigators believe both the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) and transponder were disabled by someone on the flight, rendering the plane invisible to commercial radar used by ground controllers. Ravi said that a proposal to replace secondary radar which is currently the main surveillance method for air traffic control networks around the world with a satellite system called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) was also being bandied about. All these things have a cost impact, operational impact, and regulatory part to it; all of them have to be considered, he said. Australias ABC News reported last Saturday that the ease with which Flight MH370 vanished highlighted the deficiencies of ground-based radar and radio communications

in planes, quoting experts as saying that satellite-based navigation and communication was the way to go. An overhaul of air traffic control systems, however, is costly, said the report, noting that funding constraints have prevented many airlines from adopting the ADS-B surveillance system. According to ABC News, the US aerospace industry has been pushing for a US$40 billion overhaul of air traffic control systems, but the effort is being hampered by the complexity and cost of the undertaking. But air marshals are not necessarily cheaper to implement. Since its introduction in the 1960s, the air marshal programme has cost the US approximately US$860 million (RM2.8 billion at current exchange rates), according to one American lawmakers estimation. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told The Malay Mail Online recently that a comprehensive re-evaluation of aviation security and border control was necessary in light of the MH370 crisis. But he stressed that it was also crucial to have a cost-benefit analysis when considering such proposals. Using the highest level of security would cost a lot of money, said the Pulai MP. When asked if Malaysia would consider introducing air marshals, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said that the disappearance of the jetliner has prompted a re-examination of the global aviation industry as a whole, including on aspects of security and surveillance. But he told a televised press conference yesterday that specific proposals can only be looked at once the plane is found, saying: Even experts around the world cannot tell me more unless we have more information, and that must come from the plane itself.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/amid-mh370-probe-expertsmoot-air-marshals-for-malaysia#sthash.Sah03Mg3.dpuf
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Federal Air Marshals must operate independently without backup, and rank among those Federal law enforcement officers that hold the highest standard for handgun accuracy. They blend in with passengers and rely on their training, including investigative techniques, criminal terrorist behavior recognition, firearms proficiency, aircraft specific tactics, and close quarters self-defense measures to protect the flying public. Federal Air Marshals have an ever expanding role in homeland security and work closely with other law enforcement agencies to accomplish their mission. Currently, air marshals staff several positions at different organizations such as the National Counterterrorism Center, the National Targeting Center, and on the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces. In addition, they are also distributed among other law enforcement and homeland security liaison assignments during times of heightened alert or special national events