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SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 22, 2010 – Air Force security forces have to be ready for a response at moment's notice. Known as "defenders" to many in the Air Force community, Air Force Staff Sgt. LeTari Myles and other security forces airmen are ready to take action when called upon. Air Force Staff Sgt. LeTari Myles watches over the flightline in the early morning hours at a base in Southwest Asia, Jan. 18, 2010. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Along with my fellow security forces, [I] provide security for...

Those purporting to speak for American Muslims say they condemn Islamist terrorism of the sort attempted on an airliner on final approach to Detroit on Christmas Day. Just don’t expect them to support anything designed to prevent the next attack. Last week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council issued breathless condemnations of new transportation-security guidelines that call for enhanced scrutiny of travelers entering the US from terror-prone countries. CAIR called the policy “religious and ethnic profiling” that “serves to alienate and stigmatize Muslims.” MPAC said it “deeply undermines the Obama administration’s stated commitment to civil...

A Florida woman accused of trying to open a United Airlines jet exit door as the flight descended into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has been ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail.Jeanne Ann Dempsey, 52, of Dania Beach, Fla., is being held on suspicion of first-degree malicious mischief. A decision on charges is expected Monday, the King County Prosecutor's Office said.She was arrested Wednesday by Port of Seattle police. Papers filed in King County Superior Court allege Dempsey left her seat during final descent, with the plane at 3,800 feet, and tried to open an emergency-exit door at the rear...

A Quincy woman who tried to board a plane at Logan International Airport in February with $46,950 stuffed inside her bra says she was heading to Texas for plastic surgery on her buttocks and breast. But, in a lawsuit filed yesterday, Ileana Valdez said a male Drug Enforcement Administration agent told her she had a ''nice body" and didn't need any surgery -- then seized the cash, claiming it was drug money. Valdez, 26, a single mother who was born in the Dominican Republic and is a US citizen, is petitioning to get the cash back in the suit filed...

DOT, Delta Reach Settlement Regarding Discrimination Against Passengers The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced a consent order reflecting an agreement with Delta Air Lines regarding treatment of certain air travelers who are or were perceived to be of Arab, Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian descent and/or Muslim in the period following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The order finds that Delta acted in a manner inconsistent with federal laws that prohibit discrimination and requires the carrier to provide civil rights training over the next two years to its pilots, flight attendants and passenger service agents at a...

WASHINGTON — Airline pilots may have guns and reinforced cockpit doors, but cabin crews and passengers are still left too vulnerable, say some lawmakers and interest groups who want to arm flight attendants with the skills they need to help prevent a successful hijacking or terror attack. After the Sept. 11, 2001 (search), attacks, when box cutter-wielding terrorists hijacked and crashed four planes into the Pentagon (search), the World Trade Center (search) towers and a Pennsylvania field, much focus in Washington was placed on how to better secure airline pilots and prevent terrorists from getting into the cockpit. But what's...

Airline Passengers: Background Check Jay Stanley Communications Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Monday, January 12, 2004; 1:00 PM The U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States. The government will compel airlines to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials and passengers will be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived security threat. Jay Stanley, communications director of the Technology and Liberty Program at the ACLU, was online Monday, Jan. 12 at 1 p.m....

WASHINGTON - Concerned that airline travelers are increasingly vulnerable to terrorist missile attacks, the government is developing plans to equip commercial airliners with the same protective countermeasures that military pilots use to fend off enemy missiles. Thousands of easily concealed shoulder-fired missiles are within quick reach of terrorist groups from the world's black-market arms bazaars. In August, FBI agents arrested a British citizen in New Jersey suspected of trying to peddle a Russian-made SA-18, a newer-generation surface-to-air missile. "As of today," defense analyst Loren Thompson said, "commercial airliners are naked against the potential of such a threat." Last week, the...

swissinfo January 5, 2004 8:36 PM Swiss inspectors found similar faults on both Flash Airlines planes (Keystone) Switzerland’s aviation authorities say they found serious faults on both planes owned by the Egyptian carrier, Flash Airlines, over a year before one of its planes crashed. But the Federal office for civil aviation (FOCA) said it was drawing no conclusions about Saturday’s crash, which killed all 148 people on board. The office said in a statement it had found a number of problems on both aircraft, including missing navigational documents, fuel calculations that didn’t match international standards, and unsuitable emergency exit signs....

Saudi Man Charged for Firecrackers on U.S. Plane Mon January 5, 2004 04:07 PM ET BOSTON (Reuters) - A Saudi man was charged on Monday for carrying firecrackers in carry-on luggage on a plane from Germany, to Boston amid U.S. warnings of a possible attack bigger than the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane strikes, officials said. U.S. officials in Boston said in a statement that Essam Mohammed Almohandis, 33, of Riyadh had "three small firecracker-type explosive or incendiary devices" in his carry-on luggage on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt on Saturday. He told authorities at Boston's Logan International Airport that...

Suspicious device found in terminal. A,B,C serve Alaska, NW and Southwest. Developing.

Police Detain Two Passengers on Dominican-Bound Flight After Suspicious Behavior The Associated Press SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic Jan. 5 — Two Canadian men were detained for suspected links to terrorism after acting strangely aboard a flight from France to the Dominican Republic, authorities said Monday. The two were detained after Air Europa Flight 89 landed in Santo Domingo Sunday night, said Gen. Fernando Cruz Mendez, director of national Investigations. They have not been charged and authorities did not find any weapons, Cruz said. "They acted very nervous on board," he said. "They went in and out of the bathrooms, including...

<p>January 5, 2004 -- Federal air marshals intervened in 840 cases of suspicious passenger activity during a two-year period starting the week of the 9/11 attacks. That's 40 percent of the total 2,100 incidents involving air marshals.</p> <p>A congressional investigation into how the marshals are doing their job also shows there have been 28 arrests or detainments of passengers and three cases where marshals discharged their weapons.</p>

A New Year's Eve incident at Tappahannock Municipal Airport had townspeople talking yesterday, but there was little anxiety about reports linking the village of 2,000 to al-Qaida terrorism. According to the FBI, an illegal alien tried to enter the airport late Tuesday afternoon, then fled. And the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported yesterday that unnamed sources said a Tappahannock resident has been under investigation for some time on suspicion of financing or assisting al-Qaida. Airport Manager John McDonald said the Virginia State Police pursued a car that tried to enter the airport grounds, then sped off at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. State...

D.C. local Channel 4 reported on their Six o'clock news that the head of the Dulles Airport TSA was arrested at 1 a.m. this morning for drunk driving.Last night was an eventful one at Dulles with British Airways Flight 223 being escorted by fighter jets and then being detained on the runway while federal agents interviewed passengers and screened luggage.Looking for wire copy, but they said this was an exclusive.

By: Jackson Thoreau - 12/30/03 Shortly before he died in a mysterious airplane crash 11 days prior to the 2002 elections, Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone met with Vice President Dick Cheney, probably the Bush administration's most evil public face. Cheney was rounding up Senate support for the October 2002 vote on giving the administration carte blanche to invade Iraq, with or without blessing from the United Nations. Cheney strong-armed opposing politicians like the most vindictive of mafioso leaders, and opponents usually gave in. But not Wellstone. Whatever you thought of his progressive brand of politics, he wasn't a wimp. And...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A woman allegedly tried to choke a federal air marshal after she became disruptive on a flight from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis, authorities said. The air marshal approached the woman, who was allegedly intoxicated, vocal and obnoxious aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 1057 on Tuesday, Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Jennifer Marty said. After the woman continued to be disruptive, she tried to choke the marshal in a later exchange, Marty said. She also kicked the marshal in the groin and bit a law enforcement officer after she was escorted off the plane, Marty said. The flight landed at 8:30...

Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 December, 2003, 16:50 GMT Union advises pilots not to fly Airport security has increased Airline pilots should not take off with armed marshals on board, the British Airline Pilots' Association has said. The union (Balpa) has advised members not to fly until agreement is reached on the roles of marshals. The announcement came after consulting lawyers to see if pilots could legally refuse to fly their plane with an armed police officer on board. UK ministers say the move is a "responsible and prudent" response to the heightened terror alert in the US. Balpa has also...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETINTerrorists plot shooting down airlinersOfficials see increased threat from shoulder-launched missiles Posted: November 11, 20031:00 a.m. Eastern© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – Transportation Security Administration officials say they believe terrorists will continue to plot attacks against commercial airplanes in the United States and abroad – including the use of shoulder-launched missiles, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.Officials identified the threat from terrorists equipped with shoulder-launched missiles, called man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, as one of "credible concern." They said that MANPADS are "widely" available on black or gray markets around the world and that even an unsuccessful MANPAD attack...