Free Republic

Proposals to arm teachers and other staffers to better secure schools against mass shooters are worthwhile, just as arming pilots was following 9/11, said Chad Robichaux on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight in an interview with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak. Robichaux is a former Special Agent with the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS). His work with the FAMS included the development and implementation of the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program — including training the first wave of armed pilots following 9/11 — after the Islamic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which screened, trained,...

Dana Brown, the new director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, never really thought there was a morale problem when he was promoted to the top position in March, but then again, he never asked. But now he is asking, and the Transportation Security Administration's 2006 Organizational Satisfaction Survey confirms what he is hearing from his men and women who are protecting America's skies from another terrorist attack. "The results are not good," Mr. Brown said in a five-page memo last week to all agents within the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS).

“The attitude of this agency stinks…..This report should have come out a year ago had we gotten even minimal cooperation…….” No, this was not a criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) concerning the impending hurricane season. But it is in fact a quote by Senator James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) referring to another agency, the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), which is also under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FAMS directly reports to the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) also under the DHS. It has not always been that way, however. But things changed after September 11,...