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Marshals: eye - and gun - in the sky

The program has grown since the attacks of Sept. 11, but some question if the money would be better spent elsewhere.

By TAMARA LUSH
Published December 9, 2005

MIAMI - American Airlines' Flight 924 was eight minutes from takeoff at Miami International Airport when a tall man, followed by a woman and a man in a Hawaiian shirt, ran down the jet's narrow aisle.

"My husband! My husband!" one passenger said she heard the woman scream.

The tall man - 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar - was also screaming. Something about having a bomb in his backpack. He ran out the door of the plane. Seconds later, the man in the Hawaiian shirt and a second passenger shot Alpizar several times on the jetway, killing him.

The two men who fired on Alpizar were air marshals, federal agents who fly thousands of miles each year in an attempt to keep planes safe from terrorism. Wednesday's fatal shooting was the first time an air marshal has fired on a passenger in the history of the program.

Little is known about air marshals. Their schedules are never made public, though they travel four days a week. They fly incognito, always two to a flight. Exactly how many of them are in the skies is classified information. The shooting in Miami is a peek inside the highly secretive program.

Alpizar didn't have a bomb in his backpack - authorities say he suffered from a mental disorder - but everyone from the White House on down is saying that the two air marshals followed procedure by shooting him. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday that "I don't think anyone wants to see it come to a situation like this" but it appeared the marshals acted properly.

Even so, some experts question the value of the program, which has grown from a 33-person unit on Sept. 11 to a $600-million-a-year program with as many as several thousand agents. That's a fraction of the approximately 30,000 U.S. flights each day.

Douglas Laird, a Reno, Nev., consultant who formerly worked as security chief at Northwest Airlines, said the slight benefit of the program doesn't justify the cost. Money earmarked for marshals' salaries - each marshal makes between $36,000 and $86,000 a year - would be better spent on intelligence gathering, he asserts.

"We will never have enough of the marshals in the air to cover enough flights to be meaningful," he said. "The real battle against terrorism is not on an airplane. It is a battle of intelligence."

The air marshal program dates to the 1960s, but it was beefed up in the wake of Sept. 11 when lawmakers wanted to improve airline security. People rushed to apply for the jobs: during a six-month period in 2002, the agency received 190,000 applications.

Requirements for the program include patriotism and familiarity with weapons; the application asks everyone, "Are you willing to use deadly force in the course of your duties, as authorized by law?"

Although the job involves lots of travel and good pay, it can be boring. Marshals cannot drink alcohol - soda is okay - and can't sleep. (They can take catnaps on 12-hour international flights). Airlines must provide free seats to the marshals, and, no, they don't accrue frequent flier miles.

The last notable incident involving an air marshal happened in August 2002, when a marshal pointed a gun toward passengers while detaining a man he said was unruly.

The passenger, physician Bob Rajcoomar of Lake Worth, was helped by the American Civil Liberties Union when he filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration. Rajcoomar received $50,000 in compensation for false arrest, and the government adopted new hiring and training procedures for marshals after the incident.

Both air marshals involved in Wednesday's shooting are based in Miami and have been placed on routine administrative leave, said a Department of Homeland Security spokesman.

Both became air marshals in 2002; one was a Border Patrol agent for four years before that and the other - a fluent Spanish speaker - worked two years previously as a Customs inspector.

The shooting was being investigated Thursday by the Miami-Dade Police Department. The medical examiner's office was performing an autopsy on Alpizar's body. His family in the Orlando area declined to comment about him or his mental condition.

"He was born in Costa Rica and became a proud American citizen several years ago. He will be sorely missed by those who knew him," a family statement said.

Witnesses said Alpizar was acting nervously and fighting with his wife as they boarded the plane. They had just arrived from a missionary trip in South America, and were taking the American Airlines Flight 924 home to Orlando.

Witnesses also said that in the wake of the shooting, Alpizar's wife mentioned he suffered from bipolar disorder and that he may not have been taking his medication.

Homeland Security officials said there was simply no time for the marshals to determine his true intentions.

"He was belligerent. He threatened that he had a bomb in his backpack. The officers clearly identified themselves and yelled at him to "get down, get down.' Instead, he made a move toward the backpack," said Brian Doyle, spokesman for the U.S. Homeland Security Department.

Doyle said the incident, while tragic, should make passengers feel safer.

Patrick Smith, a pilot who is the author of a book called Ask the Pilot and a column of the same name for Salon.com, thinks that Wednesday's incident was the first time the program has been "put to the test."

Still, he believes, the air marshals program is nothing more than window dressing. The millions spent on the program would be better used on scrutinizing air cargo more thoroughly, for instance.

"This gets back to our unrelenting fixation with Sept. 11," said Smith, who is based in Boston.

Both Smith and Laird believe that a Sept. 11-type scenario, where hijackers physically assault airline crew, pilots or passengers will never happen again.

"Imagine a guy standing up in a plane with a screwdriver now," said Smith. "He would be pummeled by other passengers instantly."

Laird also believes that reinforced cockpit doors would deter any terrorist.

David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, said he thinks the shooting may prove more "reassuring than disturbing" to the traveling public his organization represents.

"This is a reminder they are there and are protecting the passengers and that it is a seriously deadly business," he said.

Times researcher Caryn Baird and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Federal air marshals are armed undercover security officers who sit with passengers on commercial flights.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must pass a psychological and medical screening. Marshals typically come from the military or law enforcement.

They undergo a 14-week training program at facilities in New Mexico and New Jersey, as well as ongoing training at 21 national field offices.

Training includes firearms techniques and marksmanship, "behavioral observation, intimidation tactics and close quarters self-defense," emergency procedures. They carry automatic .357 Sig Sauer pistols loaded with hollow-point bullets that expand on entering the body. They are able to shoot and kill while the airplane is in flight, without puncturing the wall of the aircraft.

Aboard aircraft, the identities of marshals are known only to the flight crew and other armed law enforcement officers.

It's estimated they cover about 5 percent of the nation's flights.

Sources: CNN; ABC News; Times files; Associated Press; Times staff writer Tamara Lush; Federal Air Marshal Service; Newsday Federal Air Marshal Service: www.ice.gov/graphics/fams/

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:39:54]