In the days immediately following the shooting of Rigoberto Alpizar ?a bi-polar 44-year old resident of Maitland, Florida?critics and supporters of the two Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) aboard American Airlines flight 924 swung into full gear. Initial investigations into the shooting revealed that the FAMs acted in an appropriate manner that was fundamentally consistent with the training they had received and responded in a manner they deemed necessary. Although reports regarding what happened on the afternoon of December 8 have been sketchy, it seems clear that the two FAMs considered Alpizar?who verbally claimed to have a bomb?a threat that had to be neutralized before lives were lost to a potential suicide bomber.

However, the incident has shifted the spotlight onto the FAMs who had received enormous attention following the 9/11 attacks but quickly slipped back into recesses of our memories as the months and years passed by. Who are these ‘cowboys of the sky’ who are tasked with protecting international air; what role are they now playing; and are we safer because of them?