Tim sez, “According to this article in the Washington Times, some air marshals are being forbidden entry to the airplanes they are supposed to protect, as they have similar names to people on the no-fly list.
Another nugget from the article- Chertoff says just one airline is seeing some 9,000 false positives EVERY DAY from this list.”
Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) familiar with the situation say the mix-ups, in which marshals are mistaken for terrorism suspects who share the same names, have gone on for years – just as they have for thousands of members of the traveling public.
One air marshal said it has been “a major problem, where guys are denied boarding by the airline.”
“In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage because the airline employees were adamant they would not fly,” said the air marshal, who asked not to be named because the job requires anonymity. “I’ve seen guys actually being denied boarding.”
A second air marshal said one agent “has been getting harassed for six years because his exact name is on the no-fly list.”
(Thanks, Tim!)