Well if you think airline security isn't strict enough, think again. It appears that even some air marshals cannot get on board the plane they have been assigned to protect. According to the Federal Air Marshal agency some of the marshals share similar names with those on the terriorist no-fly list and have been denied access to board the plane leaving the plane in some instances to take off with no security on board. Those marshals familar with the situation say this has been a major problem that has plagued them as well as the public for years.The agency introduced a new directive this month which should help to alleviate the problems faced by Federal Air Marshals.
The new directive will allow airlines to implement a system that will allow them to look up the name along with demo graphical information and date of birth which should clear up the problem of misidentification. They will also be able to see the law enforcement status of any air marshal in question.
It was reported this week by Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff that one major airline has reported it averages about 9,000 false positive hits per day per the no- fly list,creating big problems not only for air marshals but also the general public.
The terrorist screening center will start to review a list of nearly 500,000 names that appear on the list and remove those that do not belong to actual suspects.
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