Cyclops - in my opinion, you'd need them on every flight as it would be relatively easy for a 'professional' terrorist to gain information as to whether or not there were likely to be Skymarshals on board a particular flight; or even worse manipulate their schedules so that they
weren't on hoard a given flight.
Meanwhile, the Americans are talking about using Delta Force (their equivalent of our SAS) as Skymarshals ...
From ATWonline:
US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said yesterday that DOT has appealed to the Dept. of Defense "for expeditious treatment and action…to give us some Delta Force folks" to put on commercial aircraft to act as a deterrent and last line of defense against future acts of terrorism. "They are already trained on high-risk situations," he said. Citing an urgent need for such action, Mineta pointed out that it would take at least several weeks to train "people we might get [from inside the government]--INS agents or border patrol or others in terms of being competent to be federal air marshals."
In addition to airport security steps outlined Wednesday that permitted resumption of airline services effective at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday (ATWOnline, Sept. 13), Mineta also said that uniformed agents from the Justice and Treasury departments will be deployed at airports across the country. But he was cautious on the call by the industry and others (see next item) to transfer responsibility for the security and screening process at US airports from airlines to the federal government. "If we federalize it, who's going to be doing the work? Are they civil service employees, or are we just going to be federalizing it in the sense that the FAA/DOT is now going to take over the contract and then are we going to go around asking for the lowest bid from contractors? What have we netted then? All we've done is to move it from a low-cost/low-bid contract awarded by an airline to [a low-cost/low-bid contract] awarded by FAA/DOT...That doesn't improve security."
But if the choice is to have actual government employees do the job, "I'm not sure Congress is willing to accept that that kind of additional cost be borne by taxpayers." Alternatively, charging airlines for security may not be a "healthy thing for the economy…given the shaky condition of airlines right now."
Elsewhere, around the country most airlines began limited services yesterday. Among larger carriers, Continental, United and Southwest all decided to delay a restart until today. As FAA opened the airways, there remained confusion over passenger processing rules. An FAA spokesperson told ATWOnline that all passengers must check in at ticket counters before proceeding through security, while two Major airlines contacted by this website said that passengers without baggage to check and holding paper tickets or printed e-ticket receipts and itineraries could clear security before checking in.
Airlines ask government to take over airport security
In a blunt statement, US airlines represented by the Air Transport Assn. called on the
federal government to stop avoiding what is "virtually, by definition, governmental functions and responsibilities" and assume control of security at airports and on aircraft. "In the fight against terrorism…the government has long sought to focus most intensively on only the last line of defense--countermeasures--and to pass that responsibility to the aviation industry. Recent events demand a change in this approach," the organization stated.
ATA wants the government to look seriously at nationalizing the air passenger screening process; to deploy a high-visibility, armed, uniformed presence at airports, including both law enforcement and military personnel, and to resurrect and expand the sky marshal program that puts armed agents on aircraft. Quoting former FAA Chief Counsel Clark Onstad, ATA noted that the airline industry "is the only place in America where law enforcement has been delegated to private companies. The airlines are not the 82nd Airborne. They catch the insane, they catch the sloppy and they catch the ignorant, but they're not going to catch a sophisticated terrorist."
Both ATA and the Air Line Pilots Assn. have worked with FAA to make immediate changes in the security system, including better passenger-screening and baggage-inspection procedures, prohibition of all knives and sharp objects beyond the screening point and mandatory searching of aircraft prior to passenger boarding. In addition, ALPA wants to see significantly tighter restrictions on ramp access and a temporary suspension of cargo and mail on passenger aircraft. ATA focused on increased random checking of baggage and an explosive detection system/explosive trace detection screening or manual search of selected passenger baggage.