Audrey Hudson of the Washington Times has another great piece on the Air Marshal dress code story that I wrote about yesterday:

Some federal air marshals are playing a high-tech game of hide-and-seek to dodge supervisors from inspecting their attire and ensuring compliance with a mandatory dress code.
“The ’suit Nazis’ are out there, so the guys are hiding,” said one senior official with the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS).”It’s sort of an underground operation.”
The official said air marshals are turning off their government-issued cell phones so supervisors can’t find them for wardrobe inspections, and instead are using personal phones and beepers to send warnings when supervisors approach.
“It’s crazy, and it sounds funny, but it’s scary what the guys are having to do to dodge the suit Nazis,” the official said. “There is such a rift between the management and employees. They view us as the enemy, rather than al Qaeda.”
…National Directive FLT 6002, which establishes “standards of dress required of federal air marshals,” was issued by Mr. Quinn on May 9, 2002, and says marshals must wear “a business suit or sport coat with dress pants and tie, or sports coat with dress pants and collared shirt.”

Read the whole thing here.

Hudson went on Fox and Friends yesterday to discuss David Adams’ phony allegation that there is no dress code for Federal Air Marshals. Here is an excerpt:

Doocy: O.K., so we just heard from the spokesman for the air marshals and he said there’s not a requirement that you have to have a business suit.

Hudson: That is patently false and he’s playing word games and he knows it. I have with me National Directive FLT6002. It states, and I quote, Air marshals must wear “a business suit or sport coat with dress pants and tie, or sport coat with dress pants and collared shirt.” I mean, he’s just playing word games when he says they are not required to wear a suit.

A complete (unofficial) transcript is posted below. Some blogosphere reactions to yesterday’s post here, here, and here.

Fox and Friends
Fox News Channel
Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004

Interview with the Washington Times Homeland Security Reporter Audrey Hudson

Unofficial transcript

Video Clip with Dave Adams, Federal Air Marshal spokesman: “The Federal Air Marshals are not required to wear a business suit. All the reports that are out there saying that the Federal Air Marshals have to wear a business suit is patently false.”

Kilmeade: True or not? That was the Federal Air Marshal spokesman on Monday morning?last Monday?responding to the reports of an agency dress code that some insiders believe puts the airline passengers at risk.

Doocy: Joining us right now is the woman reporter who originally broke the story, Washington Times Homeland Security Reporter Audrey Hudson. Good morning to you Audrey.

Hudson: Good morning, Steve. Good morning, Bryan.

Doocy: O.K., so we just heard from the spokesman for the air marshals and he said there’s not a requirement that you have to have a business suit.

Hudson: That is patently false and he’s playing word games and he knows it. I have with me National Directive FLT6002. It states, and I quote, Air marshals must wear “a business suit or sport coat with dress pants and tie, or sport coat with dress pants and collared shirt.” I mean, he’s just playing word games when he says they are not required to wear a suit.

Doocy: So they have to wear a coat and they’ve got to look like they’re businessmen?

Hudson: They must look pretty and they must wear their coats at all times. I mean, these guys are the first responders. They are on the front line of the war against terrorism and they go to work every day and they put their lives on the line to protect the American people, and they’re being treated like children and being approached by supervisors in airports to make sure that their Grr-Animals match. It’s ridiculous.

Kilmeade: And, Audrey, what happened is one of these higher-ups went down to thank everyone for their hard work on Thanksgiving and noticed that it seemed their wardrobe was off–wasn’t according to code–and that this massive?had this massive movement to get everyone up to code? The problem is when you’re on a long flight you don’t dress in a suit. When you’re going to Miami you usually look like you’re going to be in Miami. And one of the goals of the Air Marshals is to blend in, not to stand out. Correct?

Hudson: That is correct. That’s what they want to do. They don’t want to wear jeans and t-shirts, and reports that they were wearing jeans and t-shirts on Thanksgiving: Patently false. There is no way. And, Mr. Adams knows that: That they weren’t flying on airplanes on Thanksgiving into Washington wearing t-shirts. What they want is some flexibility. When you’re flying to Miami you don’t need to wear a business suit or a sports coat. You can wear a golf shirt and Dockers.

Kilmeade: Uh huh.

Hudson: They don’t want to look like Serpico out there. They just want some flexibility in the dress code. And, what happened on Thanksgiving Day when the Director, Thomas Quinn, went out to Reagan National Airport to monitor?well not to monitor?but to greet the Marshal’s?

Kilmeade: Right.

Hudson: ?and discovered that only one was adhering to the dress code?

Kilmeade: Whoops!

Hudson: ?instead of addressing, you know, individually the problem, they had this massive crackdown nationwide and ordered supervisors into airports across the country to monitor their dress. And, now they’re trying to deny that this has happened.

Kilmeade: Right, exactly.

Hudson: But, we’ve had numerous memos from all of the ?

Doocy: And, also Audrey, you’ve heard from the air marshal’s themselves. What do they say in the wake of this?

Hudson: The Air Marshals say they are being approached in airports and given a dress inspection. One marshal was on board the plane already. He was in the bathroom and a supervisor came on board, knocked on the door and ordered him out for a coat inspection. This is happening. And, quite frankly, for them to deny that it is?the American people aren’t blind. And, this holiday season, millions of Americans are going to be in airports and they’re going to see the men in coats approaching the men in coats, flashing badges. They’re going to see that it’s happening and they are going to see that while the air marshals do have on dress clothes, the Emperor has no clothes. This is going on.

Doocy: What a story. All right. Audrey Hudson, the Washington Times Homeland Security Reporter. Thank you very much for keeping us up to date

comments (0)   trackbacks (7)