Funds to be cut in half for conducting background checks, pilot training, gun proficiency tests, "our last line of defense."
2/13/12, "Budget ax falls on armed pilot program," CNN, M. Ahlers
"President Barack Obama's budget ax is falling hard on a program that allows pilots to carry handguns in the cockpit as a last line of defense against terrorists.
Obama's proposed 2013 budget cuts in half funds for the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program. The current budget of $25 million a year -- which goes for such things as conducting background checks, training the pilots, and periodic gun proficiency tests and retraining, in addition to administrative costs --would be cut to $12 million.
The thousands of armed pilots, who greatly outnumber the better-known federal air marshals, volunteer for the job, train at federal academies and are deputized to use their weapons in the cockpit. They call themselves the "single most cost-effective counter-terrorism measure" the government has taken.
The federal government spends about $15 a flight for FFDOs, as armed pilots are called, compared to $3,000 per flight for federal air marshals, said Mike Karn, vice president of the Federal Flight Deck Officers Association....
As recently as last March, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano voiced support for the program, agreeing with Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minnesota, a former airline pilot and FFDO, that it was a vital part of the country's layer defenses.
But in the budget documents released Monday, administration officials said security measures put in place since 2001, such as locked cockpit doors and 100% screening of airline passengers,*** "have greatly lowered the chances of unauthorized cockpit access."
The proposed budget also cuts Federal Air Marshal Service funds almost 4%, to $927 million. It is unclear whether that cut will result in fewer air marshals. The number of air marshals is classified....
A current flight deck officer, contact by CNN, called cuts to the FFDO program "very surprising."" via Hot Air
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***False. There have been at least 25,000 airport security breaches since 2001, an average of 7 per day"
7/31/11, "Airport security breaches since 2001 raise alarms," USA Today, Gary Stoller
"More than 25,000 security breaches — an average of about seven per day — have occurred at U.S. airports since November 2001, according to newly released Department of Homeland Security documents.
More than 14,000 were people entering "limited-access" areas by going through airport doors or passageways without permission, or unauthorized people going from airport buildings to planes, according to the documents.
The documents, obtained in advance by USA TODAY, were submitted to a House subcommittee on homeland security Wednesday. The documents don't provide details about the security breaches or whether any could have led to potential attacks on planes or passengers."...
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There are reports of people walking on planes with absolutely no screening and in some cases not even a valid boarding pass. ed.
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