Federal Air Marshal Service - History

History

The air marshal program was originally created by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. He ordered that federal law enforcement officers be deployed to act as security officers on certain high-risk flights. The Federal Air Marshal Service began in 1968 as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Sky Marshal Program. It was initially composed of 6 volunteers from the FAA's Flight Standards Division who were trained in firearms at Brownsville, Texas. Later, it became an integral part of the Civil Aviation Security Division of the FAA and was expanded using volunteers from that division. These personnel were given firearms and some close quarters combat training at the FBI Academy located on the US Marine Corps training grounds at Quantico, VA.

In 1969, in response to increasing acts of air piracy, President Richard Nixon ordered the immediate deployment of armed federal agents on United States commercial aircraft to counter the increasing threat of air piracy by unbalanced individuals and terrorist organizations. Initially, the deployed personnel were federal agents from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Subsequently, the United States Customs Service formed the Division of Air Security, and established the position of customs security officer. Approximately 1700 personnel were hired for the position of customs security officer and were trained at the treasury air security officer training complex at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Customs security officers were deployed on US registered commercial aircraft flying both on domestic and international routes in an undercover capacity in teams of two and three. Customs security officers also handled ground security screening on selected flights at domestic US airports.

Following the mandatory passenger screening enacted by the FAA at US airports beginning in 1973, the customs security officer force was disbanded and its personnel were absorbed within the U.S. Customs Service. By 1974 armed sky marshals were a rarity on U.S. aircraft and the former customs security officers had been reassigned as customs patrol officers, customs inspectors, and customs special agents.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan requested the expansion of the program and Congress enacted the International Security and Development Cooperation Act, which expanded the statutes that supported the Federal Air Marshal Service. Contrary to the impression given in the TSA "Our Mission" statement, the FAM program was begun in response to domestic hijackings and FAM operational flights were almost exclusively conducted on domestic US flights until 1985. After the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 and the enactment of the International Security and Development Cooperation Act, the number of FAMs was increased and their focus became international U.S. air carrier operations. Due to resistance of several countries e.g., the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany to having individuals carrying firearms entering their countries the coverage of international flight operations was initially spotty. As resistance to the entrance of armed personnel to their countries was overcome through bilateral negotiations and agreements reached as to the terms and handling of the weapons when they were brought in country, the FAMs were able to operate worldwide in carrying out their mission to protect US aviation from hijackings.

Air marshals were originally designated as U.S. Customs security officers assigned by order of President Kennedy on an as-needed basis, and later were specially trained FAA personnel. Also contrary to the impression from the TSA "Our Mission" statement, the customs officers were phased out in 1971-1972. Many of them transferred to the FAA Civil Aviation Security Division to serve as aviation security inspectors and also in the volunteer FAM program directed by the FAA's Civil Aviation Security Division.

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Federal Air Marshal Service consisted of varying numbers of FAMs depending upon the perceived threat and funding availability. Only 33 FAMs were active on 09/11/01. As a result of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush ordered the rapid expansion of the Federal Air Marshal Service. Many new hires were agents from other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, ATF, IRS CID, and many others. A classified number of applicants were hired, trained, and deployed on flights around the world. As of August 2006, this number is estimated to be in the thousands. Currently, these FAMs serve as the primary law enforcement entity within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

On October 16, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially approved the transfer of the Federal Air Marshal Service from the Bureau of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) to TSA as part of a broader departmental reorganization to align functions consistent with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Second Stage Review" findings for the following:

1. consolidating and strengthening aviation law enforcement and security at the Federal level;
2. creating a common approach to stakeholder outreach; and
3. improving the coordination and efficiency of aviation security operations.

As part of this realignment, the director of the Federal Air Marshal Service also became the assistant administrator for the TSA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), which houses nearly all TSA law enforcement services.