Summary
It's unfortunate but true that most airline passengers can easily spot federal air marshals: They're the overdressed ones, and they're the ones flashing their badges to the flight staff. Asked at a June Senate hearing whether overt signals like these harm air marshals' effectiveness, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge sensibly said yes. "It defeats the purpose," he said. He vowed that Federal Air Marshal Service director Thomas Quinn would make covering marshal identities "his number one priority."
If that's true, Mr. Quinn has a strange way of doing it. As the Washington Times reported last week, Mr. Quinn is forcing air marshals to overdress. He reportedly grew angry when, in a surprise visit to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over Thanksgiving, he discovered that 29 of 30 deplaning air marshals were dressed in varying states of compliance with the conspicuous marshal dress code. They looked, in short, like average travelers. That wasn't to Mr. Quinn's liking, so he began ordering supervisors in airports across the country to make sure on-duty marshals are wearing business suits or sport coats. Air marshals must wear "conservative male or female attire, such as that worn by business persons in first-class seating," an internal memo explained. "You wear a sports coat, or you wear a suit coat, or you look for another job," agents were reportedly told.See the full content of this document
Extract
Dressing Down the Air Marshals
That begs a simple question: Why? Clearly air marshals can't blend in if they're wearing power suits to Miami in August. The marshals...
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