You’re not going to believe this one. Audrey Hudson, the intrepid reporter for the Washington Times, reports on the latest fiasco at the Federal Air Marshals Service under the leadership of Tom Quinn (” ‘Inch of snow’ shuts down air marshals”):

Hundreds of federal air marshals were grounded and unable to access critical information to pinpoint potential terrorist activity for eight hours on the eve of President Bush’s inauguration after snow paralyzed the Mission Operations Center in Washington, said several air marshals and a supervisor.

The marshals said they could not reach the Mission Operations Center (MOC) by telephone to be placed on other flights after hundreds of flights were rerouted because of the snow, and marshals seeking information on reports of a dirty bomb in Boston were unsuccessful.

“They were flying blind,” said the supervisor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “An inch of snow shut down the Federal Air Marshals system’s [ability] to gather, receive or request information.”

“It basically put the entire aviation security system and flying public at risk because the air marshals were not able to properly do their jobs,” the supervisor said.

The supervisor said MOC sent out a message at about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday that the “system was shut down and they were not answering phones or anything” because they did not have enough staff working.

“Guys were literally stuck all over the U.S., and the problem is that when we see suspicious activity and need to check names against the watch list, no one was even available for an eight-hour period,” the supervisor said….

“The guys in the field were stuck and didn’t know what was going on, other than they were not to call MOC because they did not have enough people staffing it,” the supervisor said.

“The president’s inauguration was the whole purpose of increased coverage. If they can’t handle one inch of snow, what if it is truly an emergency? It was just a total meltdown,” the supervisor said.

One stranded air marshal who was on duty Wednesday evening to fly over Washington said he called MOC for a half-hour before someone finally answered the phone….

When told the “meltdown” was caused by weather delays in Washington, the air marshal said: “It’s called the Weather Channel. They should watch it and be prepared to staff for it.”

Quinn’s dissembling flack, David Adams, told the Times that the Missions Operations Center was “operating and properly staffed.” But numerous air marshals told the Times “their calls to MOC weren’t getting through and that they were getting disconnected after 20 rings.” Who are you going to believe–Adams or the marshals?

Update: Captain Ed comments on the story:

One inch of snow kept the air marshals incommunicado? Pardon my disbelief, but one inch of snow barely qualifies as a storm in Minneapolis. Did the 911 centers in DC shut down? Were planes grounded in DC? Obviously not. People went to and from work, and phones got answered all over the city. On Inauguration Day, when one reasonably could expect some terrorist activity if it happened at all, eight hours passed by before air marshals started flying again….

Congress and the White House needs to address this situation. If Northwest and Delta can put the planes in the air, FAMS should be able to answer the phone. Anything else, especially on Inauguration Day, is unacceptable.