I find this an interesting article. The RCMP has seen it as necessary to come out in defense of the air marshal program. I find it a tad odd that they felt it was necessary to defend it at all. I have been on several flights in the US with air marshals present and I never once saw it as a worry. I haven’t flown domestically for some time so I can’t speak to the Canadian marshals. Mind you this defense was raised at the Air India Inquiry studying air security. I have confidence that the RCMP will deliver a safe and effective service.
From the Globe and Mail:
The aim is to avoid the kind of “shootout at the OK corral” that could endanger passengers, Supt. MacNeil told the inquiry headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major.
“We give them firearms hoping that they’ll never have to use them, but I’m confident when they do they’ll do the right thing.”
The inquiry is studying air-security initiatives as part of its review of the 1985 downing of Air India Flight 182 with the loss of 329 lives. That attack by Sikh separatists used a luggage bomb, but the focus of anti-terrorist attention has shifted since al-Qaeda used hijacked jets to mount the 9-11 attacks in the United States.
The RCMP started putting air marshals on Canadian flights to Washington, D.C., six years ago and has since expanded the program to other routes — although exactly which ones and how many are carefully guarded secrets.
It may be a carefully guarded secret but, they tend to stand out.
Tags: Air Marshals, Air Security, Airline Security, RCMP
