by Jonathan D. Salant, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - When the Bush administration denounced the idea of guns for pilots, it said trained air marshals would be able to handle terrorists on planes.
Trouble is, there are not enough marshals to cover every commercial flight, and some lawmakers say there aren’t even enough armed officers to protect passengers on the long-range trips considered most likely to be targeted by terrorists.
The exact number of marshals remains classified, but proponents of arming pilots say there should be guns in the cockpit, no matter what.
Transportation Security Administration chief John Magaw said the marshals, who before Sept. 11 flew only on international flights, are now on domestic routes as well.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said he believes there are about a thousand air marshals. That would be considerably more than the pre-Sept. 11 level, believed to be less than 50. But there are 33,000 to 35,000 commercial flights a day to protect, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Your chances of having an air marshal on your flight are not as good as winning some of the lotteries,” said Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, an advocacy group.
The administration’s hard line against guns in the cockpits probably dampened prospects for legislation to allow them. Transportation Department officials are still deciding whether to equip pilots and flight attendants with non-lethal weapons like stun guns.
Air marshals, the Transportation Department’s soldiers in the war on terrorism, never fly alone and don’t identify themselves to anyone but the pilot. They undergo the same kind of firearms training as the Army’s Special Forces.
The aviation security bill enacted last fall required marshals to be stationed on the most high-risk flights, including nonstop, cross-country routes like those flown by the four planes that were hijacked Sept. 11.
Despite the effort to recruit and train marshals, however, the number now flying “doesn’t currently meet my idea of what is necessary,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the lawmaker who put that provision into the law.
Even on flights with air marshals aboard, there may not be enough of them to stop a terrorist attack, said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House aviation subcommittee.
“Every scenario we know of has had a minimum of four terrorists,” Mica said. “If you had two air marshals against four or more hijackers, I just don’t believe the odds are fair.”
Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner said that air marshals, combined with other armed federal agents on airplanes, reinforced cockpits and other security measures, have “raised aviation security to unprecedented levels. We’re confident that the system is quite strong and getting stronger every day.”
Would-be air marshals are put through a 14-week training program, including the highest level of firearms training of any federal law enforcement officers, said Tom Quinn, director of the Federal Air Marshal Service. They have to be recertified every three months.
They also are trained not to respond to every disturbance on board, lest terrorists first stage a distraction to identify air marshals on board.
“These marshals are trained not only in the use of weapons, but all the things that build up to that,” Magaw said. “They will do whatever they have to do, to the point of giving up their own lives to make sure the cockpit remains secure.”
Advocates of guns for pilots argue they would provide an additional measure of security, no matter how many air marshals are on board.
“Everybody understood from the beginning that there would not be enough air marshals to be on every flight,” said John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. “They’re there as much for their deterrence value as they are to be called into action.
“The same theory is part of our rationale for firearms in the cockpit,” he said. “Having an unknown number of pilots armed in the cockpit provides another level of deterrence as well as an ability to deal with an actual hijacking attempt.”