What Does A Federal Air Marshal Do? (Federal Air Marshal Service)

In this blog post, we are going to be discussing the DEA. DEA stands for Drug Enforcement Administration. Notice how we wrote Administration - it’s not the Drug Enforcement Agency like a lot of people think. There’s a lot behind the DEA. We’re going to go over what they do, who they are, their missions, capabilities, training, requirements, their Special Response Teams, and much more. Keep reading to know more about the DEA.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): INTRODUCTION

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): OVERVIEW

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): MISSIONS AND GEAR

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): LOCATIONS

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): TRAINING

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): REQUIREMENTS

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): CONCLUSION

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): INTRODUCTION

In this blog post, we will take a close look at the United States Federal Air Marshal Service.

The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) is a federal law enforcement agency that falls under the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FAMS has its Federal Air Marshals, which are its law enforcement officer position.

You may have been on a flight with one of these law enforcement officers before, and you’d never know!

If you want to know more about Federal Air Marshals, what they do, who they are, their training, requirements, and much more, keep reading as we delve deep into this remarkable law enforcement community.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): OVERVIEW

Federal Air Marshals go on certain commercial flights to protect them anonymously. They blend in, wearing whatever clothing they want, and are allowed to stay at any hotel of their choice to protect their anonymity.

Federal Air Marshals are hidden on random flights. This is why we mentioned that you may have been on a flight with an Air Marshal before, because they are placed on flights to look like any average citizen on the flight.

While you might have flown with one and not known it, chances are you probably haven’t. In the United States, less than 1% of flights have an Air Marshal. With approximately 44,000 commercial flights operating every day across the U.S., it's impossible for the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) to place an air marshal on every flight.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): MISSIONS AND GEAR

Air Marshals are equipped to operate independently in a highly stressful environment with little or no back-up. On duty and in flight, Air Marshals carry a 9mm Glock Gen 5 as of 2020, and they look for suspicious individuals and ones that may show signs of stress, such as nervousness, twitchiness, being fidgety, or flustered behavior. The TSA reports that a typical Air Marshal flies 181 days each year, which is about 900 hours in flight a year. That averages about five hours a day in the air. That’s a lot of time on a plane!

However, the Air Marshals have been used in more than just flights. They have supplemented the TSA’s VIPR teams since 2004.

VIPR stands for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response. VIPR teams consist mainly of law enforcement officers who detain and search travelers at railroad stations, bus stations, ferries, car tunnels, ports, subways, truck weigh stations, rest areas, and special events. They are located across the country and collaborate with local law enforcement, airport stakeholders, and federal law enforcement partners to support security operations and secure the nation’s transportation system.

VIPR teams are made up of a whole slew of different government and military personnel. They can include members of the Coast Guard, National Guard, Border Patrol, ICE, and much more.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): LOCATIONS

Currently, there are approximately 4,000 Air Marshals in the Federal Air Marshal service. They are pretty spread out across the country, and can work out of the following cities:

- Atlanta,
- Baltimore,
- Boston,
- Charlotte,
- Chicago,
- Dallas,
- Denver,
- Detroit,
- Houston,
- Las Vegas,
- Los Angeles,
- Miami,
- Minneapolis,
- Newark,
- New York,
- Orlando,
- Philadelphia,
- San Francisco,
- Seattle,
- Washington, D.C.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): TRAINING

Air Marshals have extreme firearms proficiency. Think about it: if something goes down on the plane, there’s a lot of people bunched up together in a small area. The risk of collateral damage is very high. If the Air Marshal needs to use their weapon, they need to be precise. Because of this, Air Marshals go through extensive firearms training.

The training a Federal Air Marshal candidate has to go through is about 16 weeks in length and has two phases to it. The first phase consists of a basic law enforcement course at FLETC in Artesia, New Mexico, as well as the Federal Air Marshal Service Training Program 1 at the same location.

After that, they move onto the second phase of training, and receive follow-on training at the Federal Air Marshal Service Training Center at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in New Jersey. Their training includes the following:
- Constitutional law,
- International law,
- Physical fitness,
- Behavioral observation,
- Defensive tactics,
- Emergency medical assistance & aircraft medicine,
- Aircraft safety,
- How to recognize criminal and terroristic behavior,
- How to arrest suspects quickly and lawfully.

In addition to all of that, a huge emphasis is put on firearms training, because as we mentioned above, a lot is at stake on a flight.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): REQUIREMENTS

These are the requirements to become an Air Marshal:

- Be between the ages of 21-36,
- Have a valid driver’s license,
- A bachelor’s degree or three years qualifying experience,
- Pass a thorough background investigation,
- Pass a polygraph exam,
- Pass a drug screening,
- Pass a medical exam,
- Pass a physical abilities test

FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL SERVICE (FAMS): CONCLUSION

The job of a Federal Air Marshal is extremely unique. While they fortunately do not need to use the skills they have on a regular basis, it is good knowing that they are there on certain flights should the worst case scenario happen.

If you want to learn more about the military, law enforcement, or government entities, we have a YouTube channel dedicated to providing the best info out there, plus we have a growing list of blog posts as well. Click the links to take you to them!

Back to top.

General Discharge is a veteran-owned, veteran-operated organization that is dedicated to providing the best U.S. Military and Law Enforcement information. With over 250 YouTube videos, over 45 million views, and hundreds of thousands of followers, we have contributed to the success and knowledge of both the current and future generations of service members.