TSA deployed upwards of 200 air marshals per deployment group for observing and escorting detainees and security control. Image: christianthiel.net/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA DHS inspector general report has questioned the value of the department’s deployment during 2019-2023 of TSA Federal Air Marshals to supplement operations of another DHS component, the Customs and Border Protection, along the Southwest border.
The TSA “did not establish baseline quantifiable and measurable goals from which it could measure the effectiveness of its primary, day-to-day operations” and therefore “could not assess the operational impacts to its primary mission of safeguarding the nation’s transportation system,” said the report, which was partly redacted.
During that period, the TSA deployed upwards of 200 air marshals per deployment group for duties such as escorting detainees between government facilities or to and from health care facilities, security control and observing detainees awaiting processing or transportation.
As part of its work, the IG surveyed more than 1,100 marshals who had deployed in that time, receiving responses from about four-tenths. “Among other questions, our survey asked whether deployments negatively impacted flight coverage operations. Although FAMS officials asserted the deployments did not adversely impact flight coverage, air marshals’ responses contradict FAMS officials’ assertions,” it said.
However, the exact responses were redacted. Also redacted was the IG’s analysis of whether the deployments impacted the number of flights with air marshals on board, although it said that analysis “did not lead us to conclude” that there was an effect.
It said the Marshals Service agreed with a recommendation to “conduct a risk assessment to quantify and measure the operational impacts when deploying air marshals to the Southwest border.”
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