Federal Air Marshals will begin riding on the Washington subway and other subway systems, traveling covert as part of a new program to “counter potential criminal terrorist activity in all modes of transportation,” according to an internal federal document reported in the Washington Post. Apparently, non-criminal terrorists have nothing to fear.
David Adams, the spokesman for the federal air marshals, proudly announced that the Transportation Security Administration is “going to extend its outreach into other modes of transportation.” No estimates are available at this time of how this may impact the mortality rate of people with bipolar disorders.
Adams is the same guy who announced last week, just after two air marshals killed an airline passenger in Miami, that the Rigoberto Alpizar, the victim, had shouted “I have a bomb in my bag” as he ran up and down the aisle of the plane as it sat on the runway. Curiously, none of the passengers on the plane heard Alpizar shout any such thing.
No matter. That federal killing was last week, and this week it is time for the same agency to intrude into far more people’s lives.
What will the feds consider suspicious activity on the subways? I took a subway into Washington last night; at the first stop, one passenger got on who proceeded to talk fairly loudly. I assumed that it was a typical cell phoner – but glanced over and saw that it was an old lady talking to herself, staring ahead intently with a worried look on her face. Her coat was fairly bulky, so the air marshals might have assumed that she was a suicide bomber.
But since there were apparently no covert air marshals on that train car, the lady was not hassled – people gave her some space – and she ambled out shortly after the train descended into Washington, DC.
You mean she was allowed to leave the Metro *alive* and under her own power?
Someone should be fired!