Air Marshal Monthly Quota System Denied

A spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service denies allegations that officers in the agency's Las Vegas field office are required to fill a monthly quota of reports labeling particular travelers as suspicious.

"There is no Air Marshal Service policy that air marshals must do a specific number of reports," spokesman Conan Bruce said last week.

Bruce also denies allegations that people named in such reports, known as surveillance detection reports, could be placed on a watch list or wind up in databases that identify them as potential terrorists.

"No person is going to end up on a watch list based solely on a surveillance detection report," the spokesman said. "It's not going to happen."

Bruce made the comments in response to publicity surrounding claims made by federal air marshals based in Las Vegas.

In a report aired recently by Denver's KMGH-TV, Channel 7, the marshals said they are required to submit at least one surveillance detection report, or SDR, a month. If they fail to do so, they said, they are denied raises, bonuses and special assignments.

"There is no connection between quantity of reports filed and evaluations," Bruce said. "However, there is a connection between quality of reporting and evaluations, and that's appropriate."

The Denver station's anonymous sources said the quota system is causing some air marshals to make up information or stretch the truth in their reports, which are designed to identify terrorist surveillance activity.

Last month the American Civil Liberties Union asked for an immediate investigation of the allegations to "determine if any innocent Americans have been implicated or suffered any harm due to misguided surveillance reports."

The controversy goes back to at least July 2004. The Review-Journal has obtained a memo written that month by Gregory Korniloff, an assistant special agent in charge at the Las Vegas office.

In the memo, distributed to supervisors in the office, Korniloff wrote, "As discussed during today's staff conference, please remind your squad members that each FAM is now expected to generate at least one SDR per month."

Last month, Korniloff referred questions on the matter to Bruce.

Bruce said Korniloff's "erroneous memo" came to the attention of officials at headquarters, and David Knowlton, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office at the time, was asked to rescind it.

"Nobody asked me to rescind it," Knowlton said last week. "I realized there was an interpretation issue, so I sent an e-mail clarifying what my expectations were."

In August 2004, Knowlton sent an e-mail to everyone in the Las Vegas office that stated, "There is not a quota for submitting SDRs. There is an expectation that all FAMs will provide timely and accurate SDRs to accomplish our mission."

Knowlton retired in January. During an interview Friday at his home, he said he was disappointed by the air marshals who have taken their concerns to the news media. He said the negative publicity overshadows the good work done every day by thousands of air marshals throughout the country.

"It all started with the surveillance detection reports," Knowlton said. "I've tried to fix it, and that was two years ago."

He said he never intended to suggest that air marshals in Las Vegas should submit a minimum number of reports each month. Rather, he stressed his expectation that all marshals participate in the agency's mission of detecting, deterring and defeating hostile acts targeting U.S. aircraft, airports, passengers and crews.

"I expected everybody to participate," Knowlton said. "Sooner or later, if you're out there, you're probably going to see something that's worth reporting."

He said some marshals in the Las Vegas office chose not to submit surveillance detection reports.

"I made it very clear: There's no quotas, but I do expect participation," Knowlton said.