Ask the pilot

Francis Volpe writes for the Sentinel, in Carlisle, Penn. Along with yours truly he was one of the few people to pen a less-than-gullible take on "Terror in the Skies Again?" Several days after his article ran, Volpe received an e-mail from something called the Federal Air Marshal Association (FAMA). Assuming it was a legitimate dispatch from a government agency, Volpe clicked open the letter. It read:

"You might want to read this about the 'innocent' 14 Syrian musicians and their leader, who were on NW Flight 327.

"Federal Air Marshal Association Media Relations Department"

The link carries you to the lyrics of "Mother of a Martyr," a song authored by Nour Mehana, the so-called Syrian Wayne Newton, who the flight 327 musicians were en route to play backup for. Several things here: For one, Nour Mehana was not on the airplane. Second, presenting song lyrics as circumstantial evidence of some vaguely defined wrongdoing opens quite the can of worms. (Never mind that "Mother of a Martyr" is about Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel and that the official Palestinian policy, what exists of it, does not actively target Americans.) We look forward to FAMA's advocating that rapper Ice-T be kept off airplanes because of his song "Cop Killer" and that Eric Clapton be grounded for "I Shot the Sheriff."

I found it discomforting that representatives of a law enforcement body, entrusted with the lives and security of all Americans, are going around sending snippy, unsigned e-mails to bolster a controversial cause, particularly when the Department of Homeland Security, under whose authority the federal air marshals safeguard our skies, openly disputes any speculation that terrorists were aboard flight 327.

Pay a visit to the FAMA Web site, however, and things drop into place. FAMA is not, in fact, a government-sanctioned entity. Rather, it's a spinoff composed of apparently disenchanted members of the official Federal Air Marshal Service, or FAMS. Air marshals with an agenda, you might say, operating as something between a labor union and a propaganda machine. Their choice of name and acronym lends itself nicely to quotes or sound bites. Indeed, several media accounts discussing Annie Jacobsen include statements from FAMA, ostensibly speaking on the government's behalf.

There's a creepy, artful convolution to the organization's press releases, which sound like a mix between Big Brother and Yogi Berra. "For immediate release," begins a dispatch. "[FAMA] announced today that additional evidence now exists confirming the possible existence of terrorist dry runs and probes on commercial passenger flights."

What is that evidence? How about "a man on a recent flight" and a pair of anonymous testimonials from flight 327 that presumably (we don't know because no details are given) buttress Annie Jacobsen's. These have "confirmed the original incident as a possible dry run or probe."

Oh.

One notably crude touch is the home page graphic of the KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) DC-10. They've airbrushed out the tail design, but you can still see the carrier's logo on the engine cowls. Elsewhere we find images of a hooded marshal crouched behind an airplane seat, taking aim at, we figure, a terrorist strapped with dynamite, or possibly a Syrian oud player. A little too much swagger for comfort. Through its scratch and grain, the page looks, and I really hate to say this, like one of those al-Qaida recruitment videos we've seen on TV. Instead of bearded jihadis bayoneting effigies of George Bush, we see pictures of trigger-happy marshals antsy for the next takedown at 37,000 feet.

Doubtless somebody will rip the above from context and claim that I "compared federal air marshals to terrorists." And maybe I'll get a letter or two reminding me that I won't be saying these things "when one of our men is up there saving your pathetic liberal ass." I can't quote FAMA directly since none of my phone calls or e-mails were returned.

Air marshals could and should portray themselves in any number of ways: highly trained, competent, vigilant. Two things they should not be are politically partisan and confrontational. FAMA looks to be both, and the Department of Homeland Security should be alarmed and ashamed that some of its members have taken up like a renegade militia, purposely obfuscating the identity of a government office while openly contradicting its statements. I can think of nothing less professional. Who would you rather have aboard your plane, an unarmed Arab musician flying to a concert, or one of these reactionary zealots packing heat?

Next Page: The security of the skies is being hijacked, but not by terrorists

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