Critics: NBC compromised air marshal safety

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is being asked to investigate allegations that the safety of thousands of air marshals and the public at large was compromised last month during the airing of an exclusive two-part series by NBC News that examined the federal air marshal program. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., in a letter on Wednesday, asked Ridge to “review” the “possibility of unwarranted security disclosures made by Federal Air Marshal executives” when they allowed NBC News unprecedented access to videotape little-known facets of the air marshal program. “In their attempt to bolster public confidence, they ultimately may have put air travel passengers and individual Federal Air Marshals at greater risk,” wrote Maloney, who chairs the House Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security. Air marshal officials, “have taken the position that providing the world with a step-by-step narrative of how Federal Air Marshals covertly pre-board commercial flights and make threat assessments is somehow going to improve public confidence,” Maloney writes. Full Story