USATODAY.com - Air marshals back to long flights

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security hastily cancelled a fledgling plan Wednesday that would have taken federal air marshals off long-distance flights to cut costs. Secretary Tom Ridge pledged to maintain the security program amid warnings of possible new terrorist attacks.

The about-face came after some marshals were informed of schedule changes that would bump them off flights requiring overnight hotel stays. That would have left most international and cross-country flights, such as those hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, without the added security.

The placement of air marshals on U.S. airlines was one of several measures taken by the federal government to tighten aviation security after the Sept. 11 attacks. In addition, passengers and luggage were put through more elaborate screening, and cockpit doors were reinforced. Now, some pilots are being trained to carry guns.

An estimated 4,000 armed and plainclothes marshals ride in the cabins of commercial airlines. The exact number and percentage of flights is classified.

"Americans should know that every available air marshal is being deployed, and additional resources are being directed to this critical program," Ridge said.

After first denying that air marshals would have been shifted, the Transportation Security Administration acknowledged Wednesday that schedules had been changed late last week. "Those actions were premature and a mistake by the people who were involved," the agency's spokesman, Robert Johnson, said. A source in the air marshal program said long-haul flights were put back into schedules over the past two days.

The controversy erupted after the Homeland Security Department warned of a possible hijacking plot involving five-man teams that might try to seize planes and fly them into government, military or economic targets.

President Bush acknowledged a "real threat" that al-Qaeda could try to carry out another such attack. But he said, "I'm confident we will thwart the attempts."

A Saudi official said Thursday that some of the key information on the latest threat came from a high-level al-Qaeda member being held in Saudi Arabia.

Ali Abd al-Rahman al Faqasi al-Ghamdi — allegedly one of the key organizers of the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 23 people, including nine Americans — gave information concerning possible hijackings. Al-Ghamdi surrendered in June in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-American joint terror task force is interrogating him and all information gained from questioning has been and is continuously forwarded to U.S. intelligence officials, according to the Saudi official.

In Congress, the possibility of schedule changes in the marshals program sparked an outcry. "Given the potential fallout of another attack that intelligence reports suggest is on the way, it is incredible that the TSA would consider reducing the air marshal presence on these flights simply to save the cost of an overnight hotel room," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

The TSA, which is part of the new Homeland Security bureaucracy, faces a $900 million budget gap. It has asked Congress for permission to cut $104 million from the air marshal program. Johnson said the cuts would be made by postponing training and hiring of support staff.