Don’t Look Now

But sanity just broke out among the managers of the US Air Marshal program. Members of the service will be allowed to dress in any way they feel will help them blend in, instead of being held to a rigid dress code.

The director of the Federal Air Marshal Service relaxed a strict dress code and some of other rules on Thursday, addressing gnawing problems at an organization that has expanded quickly since 2001 but been plagued by poor morale.

On September 11, 2001, there were only 33 air marshals, but now armed law enforcement officials disguised as passengers are deployed on thousands of U.S. airline flights each week. Their actual number is classified, but officials say it is in the thousands.

Dana Brown, who has been seeking to improve working conditions since he took over as the agency's director earlier this year, said that, as of September 1, marshals can choose what to wear on flights.

"The manner of dress should allow you to blend in and not direct attention to yourself, as well as be sufficiently functional to enable you to conduct your law enforcement responsibilities, and effectively conceal your duty equipment," he said in a memo to air marshals that was obtained by Reuters.

Brown's predecessor Thomas Quinn, who was charged with beefing up the air marshal service after the September 11 hijackings, had faced resistance from disgruntled air marshals who said their undercover status was compromised by rules like the stringent dress code.

So you will not be able to tell the air marshal by their clean-cut, business-suited appearance any longer. About time, I'd say.