[Marxism] Protecting the skies?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5870501/

Report finds air marshal standards lacking
Some get classified access despite 'unstable behavior,' official says
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent

The government botched background checks and was too lax in its hiring
standards for federal air marshals, allowing persons with questionable
employment records and histories of sexual abuse and misuse of government
property to be hired, according to a report from the  Department of
Homeland Security's inspector general.

Under hiring procedures set by the Transportation Security Administration,
which until last year ran the Federal Air Marshal Service, prospective
applicants were given background checks similar to that of airport baggage
and passenger screeners despite the fact that air marshals are allowed to
carry weapons and have access to top secret classified information.

But DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin's report found that those
standards were too lax for a position of "high risk" that "demands the
highest degree of public trust."  The background checks should have been
more rigorous, the report said.

"Many federal air marshals were granted access to classified information
after displaying questionable judgment, irresponsibility and emotionally
unstable behavior," Ervin said in his report released Monday.

Troubled backgrounds ignored

The inspector general's report notes that TSA investigated and approved the
hiring and granting of top secret clearances to 161 applicants accused of
domestic violence, drunken driving and sexual harassment.

"None of those particular applicants were hired, nor will they be," said
David Adams, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service.

In December of last year the air marshals were transferred to the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of DHS.  As a result of that
shift the hiring standards were beefed up to reflect the nature of the
position.

"Our air marshal guidelines currently in place address suitable standards
appropriate for law enforcement officers," Adams said.

But others with troubled backgrounds have been hired, the report
notes.  Specifically, 104 former prison guards turned air marshals were
found to be involved in 155 separate cases of misconduct while on their
prison jobs.  All those air marshals currently hold top secret clearances
and are on active duty.

Those 155 incidents include "offenses such as falling asleep on duty,
verbally abusing a female prison official, breach of security, physical
abuse of an inmate, inappropriate relationship with an inmate's wife, and
misuse of government property and credit cards," the report says, citing
records from the Internal Affairs division of the Bureau of Prisons.

Background investigations during the air marshal hiring process caught only
32 percent of the above noted violations, the report says; the report notes
the Bureau of Prisons said it was  contacted only once for further
information regarding the incidents of misconduct.

A TSA spokesperson said that each of the cases of the 104 persons noted in
the report "have been doubly adjudicated" and that the agency "stands by
the adjudication process and the results of those 104 cases."

But the officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal
Air Marshal Service are investigating further.  "Prior to the issuance of
IG report, we decided it would be a prudent thing to review all [air
marshal] background checks to determine that each meets law enforcement
suitability requirements," Adams said.

Discipline in the spotlight

Ervin's report also criticizes the air marshal service for being soft on
disciplinary issues.  The report notes that air marshals were allowed to
keep their jobs after committing offenses such as sleeping on duty, working
while drunk or falsifying information, that would have gotten an airport
passenger or baggage screener fired on the spot.

The report notes that there are 753 documented cases of air marshals
sleeping on duty, falsifying information, testing positive for drugs or
alcohol while on duty and lost or stolen weapons, yet in many cases air
marshals were simply placed on administrative leave for extended periods of
time instead of being fired.

In written comments to the report, DHS Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson
defends the air marshal service, noting that officials of that agency have
wide latitude in the disciplinary actions they take, allowing them to
consider past performance, the nature and seriousness of the offense and
whether it was committed maliciously or not.

"In cases where termination was appropriate, the [air marshal service]
acted swiftly and decisively," Hutchinson said, nothing that between March
2002 and March 2004 the service fired 101 air marshals and 32 others
resigned before they could be officially fired.

Hutchinson also disputed the number of misconduct cases cited in Ervin's
report, claiming there were only 717 cases and that many of those were
cases of "rude behavior" or tardiness.  However, Hutchinson did acknowledge
the air marshals had 17 confirmed cases of lost or stolen weapons, 12
incidents of sexual harassment, 13 cases of domestic abuse and 27 cases of
alcohol or drug abuse.

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