This intensive program became the framework around which the skills of a fully functional FAM are developed. Ultimately, FAMS chose the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Artesia, NM to host the Federal Air Marshal Training Program. As of August 2013, the number of FAMs was approximately 4,000. Since then, policing the skies would see advancements both in tactics and in training. As part of this realignment, the Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service also became the Assistant Administrator for the TSA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), which houses nearly all TSA law enforcement services. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) to TSA on October 16, 2005. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).įinally, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff approved the transfer of the Federal Air Marshal Service from U.S. While the early FAMs and Augmentees were performing their aviation security duties, the FAMS in partnership with FLETC was developing and implementing a comprehensive training program for its newly hired FAMs.īudgeting issues within the TSA created tension between funding for airport screeners versus the FAMs, and on November 2, 2003, the FAMS fell under the umbrella of the U.S. These “Augmentees”, as they were known, hailed from across the federal government. In addition, numerous agencies assigned a portion of their federal law enforcement officers to augment aviation security in the immediate wake of 9/11. As this reorganization was taking place, the ranks of Federal Air Marshals would swell exponentially.Īs an immediate response to the need for FAMs, hundreds of federal officers from numerous law enforcement organizations accepted permanent appointments as FAMs. Under DHS, the modern Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service (LE/FAMS) ultimately found its place within the TSA. In response to the events of 9/11, numerous federal government agencies and organizations, among them the Federal Air Marshal Service rapidly reorganized under the newly formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A classified number of applicants were later hired, trained, and deployed on flights worldwide. Immediately after the attacks on 9/11, then-Director McLaughlin was tasked to hire and train 600 FAMs in one month. Bush ordered the rapid expansion of the FAMS. Because of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. On, there were just 33 Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) in service. The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) would also see increases and decreases in staffing as the civil aviation climate changed over the course of five decades. A small force of 10 -12 Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) were retained at the FAA beginning in 1974. The armed Sky Marshals became a rarity on US aircraft in 1974.

FAA enacted the mandatory passenger screening at US airports in 1973 so the Customs Security Officer force was disbanded and the US Customs Service absorbed its personnel. As the international aviation security climate changed over the course of several decades, the core concept of what would be the modern Federal Air Marshal evolved considerably.įrom the FAA Peace Officers Program in 1962, it later became the Sky Marshal Program under the joint efforts of the US Customs Service (now US Customs and Border Protection) and the FAA in the early 1970’s. The newly formed FAA’s Peace Officers Program deployed the initial group of 18 volunteer law enforcement officers from the FAA’s Flight Standards Division. The Federal Air Marshal Service began on Maunder the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Kennedy ordered that there be federal law enforcement officers deployed on certain high-risk flights. In the wake of several high profile airline hijackings in the early 1960’s, President John F.

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