Patterico's Pontifications is running an excellent piece today entitled, Federal Air Marshal Goes on The Record Stating His Opinion That Flight 327 Was A Dry Run. Patterico tracked down current Federal Air Marshal, P. Jeffrey Black, quoted in the Washington Times article, Security Flaws Confirmed on Flight 327, and publishes a fascinating letter by Air Marshal Black. Here's an excerpt: 

Do I personally believe flight 327 was a terrorist probe or dry run?

In my opinion, and based upon my experience flying hundreds of missions since 9/11, my answer is, yes it was. Do I know 100% for sure? No, of course not. Short of obtaining signed confessions from all 13 Syrian “musicians” involved, only they know for sure what their true intentions were for acting so “suspicious” during the flight. And this is exactly why the Inspector General’s report doesn’t conclude, without a doubt, that their actions were positively construed as a probe or dry run. The only people who know this for sure were allowed to freely leave the country and fly back to Syria without ever being thoroughly interrogated. And remember, a third of the Inspector General’s report is still highly redacted.

Nevertheless, many air marshal colleagues I have spoken with concur with my conclusion, but don’t expect them to go public any time soon. Every air marshal that has whistleblown publicly so far has been summarily terminated one way or another. It is just a matter of time before I receive my retaliatory pink slip. I am sure there are TSA/FAMS management bureaucrats in a basement somewhere at this very moment, scheming and drawing up battle plans to attack my character and veracity. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Transportation Security Administration.

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