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Frank Terreri - Federal Air Marshal
WPA Amendments
Reform 1: S. 372 codifies the anti-gag statute, which Congress has passed annually for the last 17 years in appropriations law, to shield WPA rights from being canceled by agency gag orders. Besides institutionalizing the appropriations rider, the provision is necessary to give whistleblowers a remedy to enforce anti-gag rights.
Reform 2: S. 372 codifies that an investigation of any employee can constitute retaliation for making a whistleblowing disclosure.
The need for reform:
Frank Terreri joined the Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) out of a sense of patriotic duty following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, after 15 years of service as a law enforcement officer with INS and New York State corrections. Since Congress voted to expand the air marshals service after September 11, the agency has been plagued with mismanagement and lack of direction, despite a seemingly clear mandate to serve as the flying public’s last line of defense against potential airline hijackers. Terreri’s efforts to improve policies that jeopardize the agency’s mission have been met with nonstop retaliatory investigations of him and a gag order on further disclosures, while his air travel and security concerns have been ignored.
Terreri disclosed numerous security problems on behalf of 1,500 air marshals in his capacity as president of the FAM-Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA-FAM). He questioned policies that place a de facto “X” on the chest of air marshals in the event of an attempted hijacking. Examples include --
- mandatory displays of the air marshal’s credentials in full view of the public – first at the ticket counter, and then again at the gate prior to departure
- predictable boarding procedures and static seating patterns that allow potential hijackers to easily determine which of the flight’s passengers could be an air marshal.
He questioned agency approval for a dubious hotel policy that led to the air marshals being publicly advertised as a national hotel chain’s “Organization of the Month” -- while supposedly staying there undercover. He challenged air marshal management’s endorsement of at least six national news segments that revealed the exact weapon and ammunition used on flights and the methods agents use to respond to a hijacking. Terreri says the impact of disclosing this information publicly is to give terrorists even greater tactical advantages in a setting that is already tipped in their favor.
Recently-resigned Federal Air Marshal Director Thomas Quinn has refused to address the security problems identified by Mr. Terreri. Instead, he personally initiated four nonstop investigations against Mr. Terreri, ranging from improper use of business cards to somehow breaching security by protesting the security breaches listed above.
After submitting the first investigation last year (concerning an alleged improper email), Director Quinn ordered two supervisors to Terreri’s home to retrieve his gun and credentials and restrict his access to government email. He was placed on administrative leave and remained on “desk duty” for the next seven months. Ultimately, DHS deemed the investigation “unfounded,” but FAM management did not inform Terreri that he was cleared. He was not reinstated to active duty until April 28, 2005 – six weeks after he was cleared – and, conspicuously, one day after the ACLU publicized his case nationally by filing a first amendment law suit.
Terreri was forced to file a Freedom of Information Act request to find out the results of the investigations. DHS investigators cleared him of early charges, but new ones continue to be filed and the nightmare continues. Meanwhile, the agency has gagged him from further dissent.
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