Air Marshal Whistleblower Warned of Investigation

This man has very valid arguments and obviously expressed them well enough to prompt the House Judiciary Committee to investigate. Then as the House Judiciary Committee was putting together a report that supported his position, he breached policy by revealing sensitive information on 20/20.
Here’s a tip for whistleblowers. When you start getting what you want, it’s time to put the whistle away.

Ron,
You do not know what you are talking about. All of our attorneys have advised us to blow from the highest mountain if you are going to have the courage to blow the whistle at all. This is because you get NO WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION FROM RETALIATION if your bosses can claim they had no idea you blew.
Spencer Pickard is a hero. He stood up for what is right and I am sorry, but nothing is changing as of today in the FAMS. Spencer and the rest of the FAMs are still dealing with mismanagement, fraud, waste and abuses of authority. Ron, your tax dollars are being WASTED too. Please read the report of Congress and do some research. Next, call your Congressman and Senators and demand they cut the budget of this agency IMMEDIATELY or start getting to the bottom of the problems.
No offense Ron, but the flying FAMs are one of the only things protecting this nation from another 9/11. There have been countless reports of accidents and problems with contraband and weapons getting onto aircraft. We need a real line of last defense to protect us. The flying Federal Air Marshal is the line of last defense.

Ron-
Here’s a tip: Spencer was waiting for over a year for the House Judiciary Committee to do something. Would there even be a report without ABC and Spencer? Do you have all the information? Apparently not! By the way, nothing has changed!!! In fact, the supervisors in Chicago were at the airport checking to make sure FAMS were following the dress code this week after 20/20!
The whistle needs to be blown more and by other couragous people!

Ron you must be in management! Nice try, but Spencer did not release anything new that Tom Quinn and all his SS retired boys didn’t do already. Let’s see…Miami Office Tactics, Newsweek , Nightline, etc.. The problem with this agency is Management. TSA is just as bad because before Quinn left he saw to it that the upper ranks be filled by Ex SS . The Spin machine has already started and I am afraid that Spencer will be the one to suffer. FAM Managers care about themselves. Not those people who actually due the job. They have never been trained to do this job and as any working FAM will tell you our Executive Level Managers have always felt that we were beneath them.
I would hope that something is done to these crooks, but Washington DC is a dirty place. Absolute power corrupts and the working FAM is on the short end of the stick.
America I hope you are watching this story as it developes, because unless it snows in hell you are going to see just how much power all these retired SS guys have over Congress and the House.
Millions of tax dollars have been wasted and you will never know just how many folks are leaving and how hard it is to do this job with the Management that is in place. We are nothing but numbers on a stat board.
Spencer you are a good man and I wish you and you family all the best. It’s just too bad that not one political figure has stepped up to the plate in your defense. I have said it before and I will say it again…The lies have started..the wheels are in motion and the Public and the FAMS will continue to suffer.
I have no faith in my elected officials…..It’s all lip service…

Fact, the Supervisors from the Chicago Air Marshal Office were in O’Hare International Airport this week after the 20/20 broadcase to ensure FAMS were abiding by the dress code. How far does this crap have to go? I found out one of the Supervisors accidently approached a regular passenger in order to admonish him for not wearing “business attire.” The passenger alerted a Chicago Department of Aviation Special Police Officer who detained the supervisors until they could be propertly identified.

These fools disgust me. We work for some of the dumbest people in law enforcement anywhere. How did they survive a full career in the Secret Svc without maiming themselves in accidents?
Congress needs to stand up and do something. Even Spencer speaking out has them doing nothing.
Ron, yes, you are a simpleton or a member of management. Spencer gave away nothing sensitive that was not already given up by the liar Tom Quinn and Byers and company. Take a look at the archived features story from a couple years back on the WSVN news site in Florida on the Federal Air Marshals. It is still there to watch and study in detail. FAMs call it the Al Qaeda FAM training tape. Yeah, the ex-SS management gave the reporters full access to the office and videotaped a complete scenario in the sim room. They bleep out the FAMs names in the video, but leave in all their terminology and tactics. We have complained to management Ron – for years. The Congressional report is finally spelling it out that Tom Quinn is a liar and endangered his own employees. By endangering FAMs, Tom Quinn endangered the American public.
Did you guys not hear Congressmen Sensenbrenner state he asked the FAM to speak out and ABC to air the story? The Congressman is so disgusted he feels the media attention is necessary.
Spencer Pickard is a hero. Tom Quinn and the ex-SS managers are nothing but scammers and liars. Liars do not belong in law enforcement with the trust of the public.

The ex SS should be put in jail for the fraud and waste they have perpetrated upon the FAMS and the American public. I am sure current and new US Secret Service agents are thoroughly disgusted by what Tom Quinn, Byers, Novak and cronies have done to their reputation.
I hope their misdeeds and thefts in relation to the PDA program also comes to light. FAMs with knowledge of the debacle and waste of the Palm program need to come forward and tell Congress or Brian Ross the details.
Dana Brown, the new FAMS Director, seems like he cares. He has a near impossible job fixing what Quinn destroyed. Calling your employees amateurs and peabrains while you steal from the taxpayers does not endear you to your workforce. It is amazing that Tom Quinn is still respected and revered by his ex SS cronies. Does Tom Quinn have pictures of people doing bad things with animals or what? The flying FAMs do not understand their devotion to such a sick, lying person. I will not call Tom Quinn a man.

Bravo to ABC and Mr.Pickard… there are still some real Americans left in the country.

While I am a white male FAM and have not personally experienced racism – I believe it is very possible to be occurring at the FAMS. Racism and prejudice is normally carried out as a result of being a very, very stupid person. Our managers sure fit the description. They are among the dumbest people I have ever seen.
It is almost as if our managers want problems and like the pain of discontent. They always seem to choose the hard road and alienate themselves from their employees every chance they get.
Thank you Spencer Pickard. WE ALL SUPPORT YOU!

Thank you whistleblowers!

I was thinking of joining the Air Marshals. I will definitely stay with the PD now. You guys need a Serpico to come in and clean house.
Have your bosses forgot what the nineteen did? How can you let them get away with this stuff?
I know if this kind of crap was pulled at my PD, heads would roll.

Wow! Is it difficult to get on a plane without looking like the Men in Black? Someone needs to do something about these supervisors.
Can’t the ATF, Border Patrol or some other smart agency come in there and take over the supervision? Sounds like these guys need a makeover. They can make some money and do it on a reality show. Each week, another boss should be fired and replaced with a smart person. By the end of the season we can see if it prevented a mass exodus or not.

Maybe someone needs to call the NAACP and get some new investigators poking in their business?

I am a typical FAM. I hate my job and cannot wait to find another job to get away from my unqualified and scary supervisors. Ask yourself? Do you feel safe when my agency is being run this way?
P.S. This job has the potential to be one of the best in all of law enforcement, but the managers are just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. I hope something changes fast.

Be safe guys. I could not stand it anymore, but got two great offers for different jobs from ICE and OPM. I will think fondly of those of you continuing to fight for justice against corrupt managers every time I see a plane overhead.
It is not just the management. It is the problem with all those management appoints to positions in the offices as well. It seems like suck up and screw up means move up. The injured FAMs that malinger are the ones prospering the best. The ex-USSS managers are truly threatened by competant professionals.

After watching the segment again and again I find only one instance where FAM Pickard spoke of Sensitive Security Information. (SSI) Regardless if Quinn and his cronies told Nightline about boarding procedures, Spencer mention “walking up the exit lane”, which is technically SSI. However, if they try to bust him for that, they should have busted Quinn first. A memo came out today that said that they won’t retaliate in hiring/firing. Yah, right. The FAMs who are financially able to fight management need to lead the way. I admit, they have me cowering, hoping I don’t make waves for fear of losing my job. I need the paycheck and can’t afford the legal bills and added stress. Thank G-d that the Congressional report will help us out! Now if management can find out some way to LOOK like they’re fixing things without really fixing them …

FAM Management is clearly incompetent. There should be absolutely no dress code and any age, race, and sex that is phyisically capable should be utilized as FAMs. As much as everyone decrys profiling, the simple truth is that it works and it works both ways. If you mandate that your undercover law enforcement look, dress, and behave all in the same manner, then the terrorists will easily identify them with the same profiling techniques utilized in the past.
Greed is what drives our society today. If we fail to change this with the power of our vote then, if anything bad happens, we can blame no one but ourselves.
All FAMS management should be fired and replaced with real law enforcement officers.

Fire the horrible managers!!! Is it that hard???

Suckered FAM is right. We have had it already. Just cancel the whole program and sift the FAMs into other agencies on a case by case basis depending on their education and background. Then take all the ex-SS boneheads and throw them in jail for stealing from the taxpayers and lying to Congress.
Tom Quinn and Byers and Novak should be the first indictments.

I certainly hope the Congress does more than just blow smoke about the serious problems with FAMS former SS management. If FAMS management was able to lie to and stall a congressional commitee for almost a year, how much can we REALLY trust them to do something ? Every FAM family member needs to call and KEEP CALLING and WRITING their elected representative in Wash. D.C. and the white house too – demanding a full and completee investigation. If you wait for just one Congressional commitee to do something – NOTHING will get done.
God Bless and keep all the FAM’s and special prayers for the courageous whistleblowers who have done what many were afraid to do.

The walls in congress will be shaken after they hear what the Miami FAM’s have to say about their managers.

Farewell fellow FAMs!
My old police department just called and I am outta here!
I never thought I would yearn to go back to patrol another project housing, to get shot at everyday by drug pushers and gang-bangers, but I am not going to be that FAM that goes down in history as being the guy who was neutralized and had his gun used against him, his partners, air crew and passengers to bring down another plane.
I was a former SWAT officer and a Navy SEAL and I still do not have the confidence to fight off an ambush from would-be hijackers when me and my partners’ cover gets blown routinely by this agency’s “’discreet’ high visibility & deterrence” policies. Everyone should know that the “element of surprise” is key to a fight, but this agency has gift-wrapped any element of surprise to the bad guys in order to serve their own arrogant image.
I still cannot get out of my head when both former Director Tom Quinn and his Chief of Staff (now Director) Dana Brown preached to my field office that I had to be wearing a dark suit and tie in order for the PASSENGERS on the plane to take me seriously. When we tried to counter their points, they just kept repeating themselves as if they were on Thorazine. Then we got the speech about the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of people who wanted our jobs and that McDonald’s was hiring.
Enough of this nonsense, I will not be THEIR scapegoat. Good luck to all the FAMs who have no other choice but to stay with this circus of an agency. Say a prayer for before every flight that you or your partners won’t be that SACRAFICIAL LAMB.
To the American flying public: Be afraid, be VERY afraid and call your Congressmen to hold immediate hearings.
Thank you Spencer Pickard and ABC News.
Mr. Ross: Don’t let up on your investigation, you have only grazed the tip of the iceberg of this corrupt agency.

I think every member of FAM Management needs to go see United 93 and then sit down and explain themselves to the families of those that were our first FAMs to fight. Yes, we had sky and air marshals before, but Todd Beamer and the others were the first to give their lives for the rest of America.
I’d like the Director and the SACs to sit down and explain what the hell they are doing with this insane, wasteful hotel program. I’d like to tell them why the FAM needs to let everyone in the gate area see who he is repeatedly. I’d like them to answer for the 5+ suicides in our small organization in a very short time. I’d like them to answer how Dave Adams tells the media the attrition rate is 6% while the flying FAMs see half their office gone. (Does 6%=50% anywhere???)
I would really love them to explain what is so hard about listening to and respecting the input of your subordinates that are eminently more qualified to be a FAM than 95% of management.
Keep up the fine work ABC and stay safe Spencer.
God bless the passengers and crew of Flight 93 and all the Air Marshals standing guard with their memory close.

I cannot wait for Congress to do something. I hope Brian Ross follows through and keeps on this story.
This job has the potential to be great. I am afraid the SS managers are sucking the life out of everyone with their incompetance.

Hopefully Ross will continue the fight for the rank and file air marshals and not let this continue. FAM Pickard did an honorable thing by standing up and has not, repeat, has not revealed any information that headquarters has not already aired on one of their FAM specials to the general public.
If anyone should be held accountable for releasing security sensitive information it should be ex director Thomas Quinn who authorized it in the first place. You would think that someone who held the number one spot would at least have the common sense not do this and to run the efficiently.
The problems with entering into the secured access areas has had a go around in congress over two years ago and nothing has been done about it even though FAMS had promised to alleviate it. It’s time to stop coddling the airline industry (special interest groups = pac donations to legislators) and do what is right for the safety of the FAMS and the public they have sworn to protect.
Now that the box has been opened let’s see exactly what congress and the management of the FAMS will do about it quickly. There are definitely things that can be changed with the stroke of a pen.
Dana Brown, Director of the FAMS, had evidently got wind of the congressional investigation and had already started a “group” discussion which is, according to him, to alleviate some of the concerns expressed by the rank and file air marshals when Ross had aired the Pickard piece. Where was Mr. Brown the whole time he worked directly under ex director Thomas Quinn in headquarters ????? Does he need to go through the expenditure and waste of time to find out these facts when he was serving in headquarters for four years? He is either both blind and deaf or he is in damage control. My money is on the later.
Pickard, if they go after you, sue them for all they are worth. This is the only thing they will understand since they seem to be able to thumb their noses at congress and the media until it gets swept under the carpet with no repercussions. God bless you! My thoughts and prayers are with you. Hold your head high for they are the ones shamed.

Congress passed a law in the past few weeks prohibiting federal employees who provide sensitive information as whistleblowers to sue or have protection of the first amendment.

Are you guys nut! FAM are the one you guys should be thankful for. What do you all know about managements? some of you can not even manage your own meals or lunch! Those of you that say we should end the FAM op, I have a question for you all. Who will protect you all in the sky. I noticed that those of you that can’t do the job are the same ones that complaint.

Nero stated:
“The congressional report has come and gone virtually under the radar from anyone outside the agency.”
This is completely false information. The Congressional report has not been completely released to the public yet, therefore the mainstream media and the public have not been able to view it or comment on it. The House Judiciary Committee delayed the release of the report for a couple of weeks in order to give TSA time to prepare a response (or most likely to prepare their disinformation campaign).
Nero further stated:
“The Supreme Court last week casted a ruling that stated that Federal employees do not have any protection against retaliation for whistleblowing.”
This is also completely false information. It is obvious Nero has not read the Supreme Court ruling. Well I have read it in its entirety, and not only is there no wording as Nero stated above, the ruling actually says just the opposite and SUPPORTS AND ENCOURAGES whistleblowing.
Here are a few quotes from the ruling:
“The Court has acknowledged the importance of promoting the public’s interest in receiving the well-informed views of government employees engaging in civic discussion.”
“At the same time, the Court has recognized that a citizen who works for the government is nonetheless a citizen . The First Amendment limits the ability of a public employer to leverage the employment relationship to restrict, incidentally or intentionally, the liberties employees enjoy in their capacities as private citizens.”
“The Court’s approach acknowledged the necessity for informed, vibrant dialogue in a democratic society. It suggested, in addition, that widespread costs may arise when dialogue is repressed.” [Can you say Datamaxx Scandal?]
“Were public employees not able to speak on the operation of their employers, the community would be deprived of informed opinions on important public issues . The interest at stake is as much the public’s interest in receiving informed opinion as it is the employee’s own right to disseminate it”
“We hold that when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are NOT speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does NOT insulate their communications from employer discipline.”
“A public employer that wishes to encourage its employees to voice concerns privately retains the option of instituting internal policies and procedures that are receptive to employee criticism. Giving employees an internal forum for their speech will discourage them from concluding that the safest avenue of expression is to state their views in public.
“Exposing governmental inefficiency and misconduct is a matter of considerable significance. As the Court noted in Connick, public employers should, “as a matter of good judgment,” be “receptive to constructive criticism offered by their employees.” The dictates of sound judgment are reinforced by the powerful network of legislative enactments— such as whistleblower protection laws and labor codes—available to those who seek to expose wrongdoing.
**********
Now does that sound like, as Nero stated, “federal employees do not have any protection against retaliation for whistleblowing”? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
For those of us that actually took the time to read the ruling, let me explain what it DID say. The whistleblower protection statues are very clear in that for any government employee to obtain retaliation protection from any whistleblower disclosure, the employee MUST make the disclosure to a government body that has the jurisdiction and authority to investigate the wrongdoing.
In other words, you CANNOT make a whistleblower disclosure complaint to your supervisors and expect protection from retaliation! This was the law before the Supreme Court’s ruling, and all the Judges followed this previous court precedent in their final ruling (and this didn’t change after the ruling either).
This would be similar to being a hen and going to the fox, who is guarding the hen house, and complain about the hen house living conditions. When the fox turns around and retaliates against the hen for complaining, the hen would NOT have protections against retaliation, because the hen did not follow the required whistleblower rules and procedures that would have allowed the hen to be protected. The fox did not have the jurisdiction or authority to investigate whistleblower disclosures.
In the Supreme Court case, Mr. Ceballos filed a [whistleblower] complaint in memorandum form TO HIS SUPERVISORS. The complaint stated that Mr. Ceballos, as an attorney for the government, was aware of evidence that a Sheriff Deputy had lied on an affidavit. The supervisors ordered him to ignore his concerns stated in his memorandum, and to proceed with prosecuting the legal case, and to NOT mention the tainted evidence in the trial proceedings.
Well Mr. Ceballos disobeyed his supervisor’s orders and brought up the evidence in a deposition and seriously embarrassed the government. The supervisors then disciplined Mr. Ceballos for failure to follow a direct order.
Mr. Ceballos then filed a lawsuit stating that he had a 1st Amendment right to expose the tainted evidence while in a deposition and IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS OFFICIAL DUTIES, and therefore he had whistleblower protection rights against retaliation from his supervisors.
The Supreme Court ONLY ruled that since Mr. Ceballos DID NOT follow the rules and procedures for obtaining whistleblower protection rights, he could not therefore take advantage of such rights of protection from retaliation.
Mr. Ceballos should NOT have filed a written complaint disclosure with his supervisors, and he should NOT have disobeyed the orders of his supervisors.
What should Mr. Ceballos have done? Well, as an attorney, he should have read the whistleblower statues, and if he had, he would have realized that he needed to file his whistleblower disclosure complaint to the California Bar or to the California Department of Justice. Pretty simple rule to follow actually.
So unlike Nero’s disinformation scare, the whistleblower statues are alive and well, and federal government employees still have some protection from retaliation.
The moral of this ruling is simple: If you as a government employee, wish to file a whistleblower disclosure complaint of wrongdoing against your supervisors, then file your complaint “as a concerned citizen” with the agency body that has the jurisdiction and authority to investigate your complaint, such as the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — and yes, you may even file your whistleblower complaint with members of Congress or their committees.
P. Jeffrey Black
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
FAMS Agency Vice-President of Policy & Ethics
FLEOA Nevada State Chapter President

In response to P. Jeffrey Black; Judging by your title, you are obviously (I hope) up to date on what has been going on with regard to the mismanagement within the FAMs. Likewise, I would not classify you as someone who is “outside “ the agency.
I thank you for your snide remarks regarding the recent Supreme Court Ruling. I hope I didn’t “scare” anyone.
It’s interesting that you failed to disclose that there was a vigorous dissent mounted by the 5 to 4 decision. At least 4 Supreme Court Justices agree that employees are less innocuous as a result of the ruling.
I would invite anyone to read the decision. Then once you are finished with that, go one step further and analyse the dissents.
Mr. Black provided several citations and then something interesting happened. In the last citation that he displays, the supposed protection that upholds all the feel-good prior quotes is revealed.
“The dictates of sound judgment are reinforced by the powerful network of legislative enactments— such as whistleblower protection laws and labor codes—available to those who seek to expose wrongdoing”.
This so-called network is nearly impossible for an employee to navigate and hangs largely on courts from which State you file in. Furthermore, the labor laws seem to not apply with the Federal Air Marshal Service as it blatantly disregards and misinterprets labor law on an at will basis. (As Mr Black should know first-hand)
Secondly, the Justices in the Majority assume safeguards such as the OIG are functioning properly and with integrity. Mr Black stated quite elegantly:
“This would be similar to being a hen and going to the fox, who is guarding the hen house, and complain about the hen house living conditions. When the fox turns around and retaliates against the hen for complaining, the hen would NOT have protections against retaliation, because the hen did not follow the required whistleblower rules and procedures that would have allowed the hen to be protected. The fox did not have the jurisdiction or authority to investigate whistleblower disclosures”
Indeed I agree with the analogy, however, lets overlay it as it pertains to FAMS
Since the TSA OIG, like the FAMS has been infiltrated at its highest ranks by SS retirees who are old buddies. This prevents flying FAMS from using this avenue for redress that you described, the Justices rely upon in their decision, and the SS upper management conspire to maintain.
The hen would be in deeper trouble now that he notifies the wolves (OIG). Since the wolves soon alert the fox (SAIC) of the hens complaints. Even though the hen followed procedure, the result was the same. Is the hen(FAM) more or less protected now?
“Restricting speech that owes its existence to a public employee’s professional responsibilities does not infringe any liberties the employee might have enjoyed as a private citizen. It simply reflects the exercise of employer control over what the employer itself has commissioned or created.”
The FAMS do not have any viable system to file a complaint: The Supreme Court has implied this only optional but does state consequences of not developing such a system. Going to the media is the PREDICTIVE outcome. This has played out with Spencer.
“A public employer that wishes to encourage its employees to voice concerns privately retains the option of instituting internal policies and procedures that are receptive to employee criticism. Giving employees an internal forum for their speech will discourage them from concluding that the safest avenue of expression is to state their views in public”.
OMS directive 3700 restricts FAMs from criticizing or ridiculing service and does not provide sufficient wording for so-called constructive criticism to occur without reprisal. It is deliberately worded with vague terms in order to retaliate against ANY critcism beit constructive or not. The FAM Forums most recently set up largely consist of upper management, operations, training, and civilians but lack the GENUINE participation of flying FAMS.
Given the lack of a viable system for constructive criticism, loss of faith and conflict of interests with the OIG and the lack of leadership to admit failures, I conclude as the Justices predict and Mr. Black suggests ; that the only way combat FAM management is to go to the media as a concerned citizen.
We’ll see if anything changes when the FULL congressional report is released.
Nero

just for the record, everything said about the management at FAMS can be said about TSA, We have the same poeple running things here, it is a joke!!!

An ex-SS has been appointed head of CBP. Let’s keep a close eye on his actions. They are all the same.

Is not only the stupidity of the management, it is their arrogance that is killing this great program. They think they are above the law and breaking rules and procedures is a normal thing for them. God be with you if you question one of their decisions, you will be a target for retaliation.
Neither Congress nor TSA upper management will do anything to this retired SS. They are promoting people they can control; the venom is in already in their blood so this is creating a cycle of destruction.
Managers at the FAM Service including most supervisors don’t have any idea of what a supervisor should be. There is no difference between Fidel Castro and the SS retiree and is funny to see how their contracts will be extended in the near future.
The famous Focus Groups are a joke. You have the same retiree SS running them, is like giving a terrorist the task of planning what is good for America. You need flying FAM’s in them, no office junkies that tell everyone that they are flying like the rest of us.
Remember, if you should die; die with a sport jacket, you will look more professional.