Well, well. The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) continues to play dirty on the playground. That would be the playground that you (the taxpayer) finance but have no access to. As far as I know, the Air Marshal Service remains the only DHS agency whose budget breakdown is classified. They keep other things away from the oversight eyes of Congress, too.

This story, from Indrid Drake at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), comes on the heels of a scathing report done by POGO on the Air Marshals Service. In that report, POGO reveals how the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has, since 9/11, colluded to bury air marshal whistleblower cases.

OSC Cheif Scott Bloch got the heave-ho from the playground after federal agents raided his home and office last spring. Who at the Air Marshal Service is next in line?

Email Misfire Provides Inside Look at FAMS
By Indrid Drake

In what appears to be an example of the excruciating mistake of sending an email reply to the wrong person, POGO just got an unexpected glance inside the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS).

It all began when Richard Hoskins–a former FAMS Security Assistant whose experience we highlighted in our recent report, Breaking the Sound Barrier: Experiences of Air Marshals Confirm Need for Reform at the OSC–sent FAMS Director Robert Bray an email requesting that Bray work with air marshals who have filed formal and informal complaints against FAMS and who are interested in getting rehired. Shortly thereafter, Hoskins received an email from FAMS Deputy Director Robert Byers, apparently intended for Bray, in which Byers states his preference to insulate Bray from any contact with federal air marshals.

This is troubling, especially since Byers had developed a reputation through his work with former FAMS Director Quinn as a dedicated whistleblower retaliation coordinator.

I've been interviewing rank-and-file air marshals and writing about the Federal Air Marshal Service for 4.5 years now. The dirty moves that are commonplace among top management there never cease to amaze me.

Read the POGO report: Breaking the Sound Barrier: Experiences of Air Marshals Confirm Need for Reform at the OSC.

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