Air Marshals to Patrol Mass Transit Systems

Soon, air marshals will be shooting rambling, incoherent people dead at train and bus stations. They're going to need a lot more bullets.

Federal air marshals will be patrolling mass transit facilities in a three-day test program aimed at expanding their role beyond airplanes. Air marshal spokesman David Adams told AP, "We just want to develop the capability to enhance security outside of aviation." The TSA is trying to expand the role of marshals, who've been eager to conduct anti-terrorism surveillance activity beyond planes, as well as increase security on public transit over the holidays.

The Transportation Security Administration said that teams of undercover air marshals and uniformed law enforcement officers would be patrolling Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Los Angeles rail lines, Washington state ferries, bus stations in Houston and mass transit systems in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The so-called VIPER teams -- for "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" -- will consist of two air marshals, one TSA bomb-sniffing canine team, one or two transportation security inspectors and a local law enforcement officer.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, however. American Airlines pilot Denis Breslin, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association union, told AP, "I don't think there's enough air marshals to cover commercial aviation as it is. That's what transit police are for."