National Security Watch: Flying the armed skies
The Department of Homeland Security recently issued a controversial plan for a new fleet of armed guards for private planes, usually home to celebrities, business executives, and politicians, headed to the nation's capital. The new guards will be dispatched to help ensure that general aviation planes–privately owned aircraft like helicopters, small planes, and private jets–won't pose a terrorism threat to the city once they are permitted to resume using Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this fall [A Really Capitol Idea? (8/1/05)]. DHS Deputy Secretary Michael P. Jackson says that a long-awaited release of the final security protocols for the general aviation aircraft was delayed several weeks because of difficulty hammering out the exact specifications for the new sky police. "We did aggressive coordination work," Jackson told U.S. News. Training and legal issues, he says, were some of the key challenges.
So what did DHS come up with? The certified law enforcement officials–taking part in the fancily named Armed Security Officer Program–must pass a special training course designed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and could be subjected to additional training at DHS's discretion. Active law enforcement personnel without any pending disciplinary actions are eligible for the program, as are former cops who retired in good standing. (Those who left the force because of "mental instability," as the TSA put it, need not apply.) Add to that a fingerprint-based criminal history check, a scanning of their full name and birth date against terrorist watch list data, and the explicit promise not to drink alcohol or consume intoxicating substances within eight hours of flying the friendly skies.
DHS's new sky cops join an elite cadre of professionals authorized to carry weapons on U.S. flights–a group currently made up of the Federal Air Marshals and the hundreds of pilots trained to carry guns on the job. Every general aviation craft flying to or from National Airport will need to have an officer on board, and already, they're not so popular. "Why on earth do we think we need to put a personal [law enforcement official] on the plane with Yo-Yo Ma and his cello?" asks Jim Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association, a group representing charter carriers. Coyne says Ma is a good example of the typical time-strapped, low-risk VIP in need of speedy charter service. Other security hawks are concerned that it is not yet clear whether the guards will patrol undercover. Having someone armed, in full view, could pose unique security challenges.
The entire effort, of course, will not be cheap. TSA says would-be officers must foot their own bill for training, and DHS estimates most companies using the Reagan National Airport will pay their armed flight attendants roughly $25 an hour plus, in some cases, cover the cost of a commercial flight home. On top of that, each flight must be screened thoroughly by TSA employees, at a cost of $296 per trip. Criminal checks on passengers and crew cost an additional $15 a pop.
For more on the security practices and general aviation security, see A Really Capitol Idea?.
advertisement
