The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is reportedly planning changes to the federal air marshal service that would station some marshals toward the rear of U.S. commercial aircraft for the first time.
ABC News reports that agency sources say that a change to the system set to be implemented Dec. 28 will see some federal air marshals stationed towards the rear of the passenger cabin on U.S. flights. Previous policy dictated that air marshals receive seats near the front of the cabin to facilitate protection of the cockpit.
{mosads}A TSA spokesman would not confirm the changes in an email to The Hill, but said that the agency was constantly updating procedures to optimize security on U.S. aircraft.
“In an effort to address evolving threats to aviation security, TSA continues to optimize in-flight security efforts; training and tactics are routinely reviewed and updated based upon intelligence,” TSA said in a statement.
“TSA continues to enhance its ability to utilize intelligence in order to best deploy [marshals] worldwide to detect, deter and defeat any potential hostile acts onboard commercial U.S. aircraft.”
Officials with knowledge of the decision told ABC News that the move was based on a need to monitor passengers during flights, while not retreating from the agency’s primary objective of protecting pilots and flight crew.
“The Federal Air Marshal Service has and will continue to add a valuable layer of security to TSA’s overall effort to protect the entire global aviation system,” a TSA spokesman added to The Hill.
A spokesman for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association who represents air marshals in the union told ABC that unionized air marshals do not support the changes.
“The TSA, riddled with their own organizational issues, should allow the air marshals to do what they have continued to do best — fly operationally sound missions to protect the integrity of the aircraft, its crew, and passengers in the manner that they have been training and perfecting for the last 17 years,” Brian Borek said, according to ABC.
“The TSA wants to change the way operations are carried out, and the men and women of the Federal Air Marshal Service do not support these changes,” he added.
Borek went on to hammer TSA officials for rolling out the changes during the Christmas holiday season, when TSA security lines are often at their longest and resources are stretched.
“Changing deployment methodologies and the manner in which we conduct business is absolutely unnecessary and does not pass the common-sense test — especially during the busiest travel season of the year,” he said.
Updated at 8:15 p.m.