Robert Mac Lean - Whistleblower Disclosure, and Protecting Aviation and National Security

Whistleblower Disclosure, and Protecting Aviation and National Security

While the general public watched in plain sight air marshals trying to accomplish their missions under strict Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) dress-code, hotel, check-in, and boarding policies the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in January 2009 reported to have all been finally rescinded, in July 2003, Las Vegas, Nevada Federal Air Marshal (FAM) Robert MacLean tried to blow the whistle within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on a plan to reduce air marshal coverage of nonstop, long distance flights amidst heightened warnings based on a July 26, 2003 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advisory and confirmed by a May 18, 2006 Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Infrastructure Threat & Risk Analysis Center (HITRAC) Report describing intelligence of an al-Qaeda suicide hijack plan that would exploit a U.S. immigration loophole enabling a suicidal terrorist, without a U.S. visa, to take a flight from a country with less-stringent security to a U.S. airport and roam that U.S. airport during a layover before taking a second connecting flight to the destination country without being screened by that U.S. airport's security. Once inside a U.S. airport, terrorists would smuggle weapons onto aircraft by hiding weapons inside camera equipment and children's toys. During flight, the terrorists with the smuggled weapons would overpower the crew, take control, and fly the hijacked aircraft into U.S. east coast targets.