Air marshals break hiring drought

Costly new recruits
But the news of job openings comes at a cost.  During the initial round of hiring, the air marshals developed a database of more than 200,000 job applicants.  The agency filled its ranks from that initial list; however, it took the further step of processing, interviewing and performing background check investigations and clearing for hire at least 504 additional candidates, according to a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report. 

The initial applicant database, however, was abolished in Feb. of 2003, Adams said.  And the list of “qualified applicants” will soon suffer the same fate, despite the time and money that went into clearing all the persons on that list.

Adams said the old applicant database, developed under outdated Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, had to be abolished because the new air marshal job description has sufficiently changed and that it will require different skills and backgrounds.  In addition, Adams noted any background checks done two years ago for those on the qualified list were now outdated and would need to be done again, thus negating their previous qualified for hire status.

News that the “golden list,” as some prospective air marshals on that waiting list called it, would be negated drew harsh criticism. 

“I think it’s a sham,” said one potential candidate who requested anonymity.  “I’ve been waiting for two years, just waiting, like treading water or something, hoping I’d get a call any day now,” said the potential candidate who is a police officer in a major metropolitan city.  “This news is very disappointing, I just don’t understand why they’d waste all that effort and taxpayer money.”

A private firm, Avue, has been given a $1 million contract to help facilitate the hiring process, Adams said.  This was done “to help speed up the process and get us a most eligible list of candidates,” Adams said.

The air marshals have struggled with tight budgets and declining force numbers for years.  Originally under the umbrella of the Transportation Security Administration, the agency was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of Homeland Security because of that agency’s strong law enforcement ties. 

ICE agents have been cross-trained for emergency duty as air marshals in the event of a crisis.  In addition, the air marshals have a “force multiplier” strategy in place that calls for other government law enforcement agencies, such as the Secret Service, FBI and DEA, to share flight info about their agents with the air marshals.  That way, during a high terrorism alert situation air marshals can be deployed on other flights that have no armed federal agents on board.

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