http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-marshals9dec09,1,6576951.story?coll=la-headlines-nation<snip>
Many security and law enforcement experts said Thursday that the shooting may have been an unfortunate byproduct of the porous nature of the current system for screening airline passengers.
"Air marshals have zero trust in the screeners," said one marshal who requested anonymity. Because Homeland Security policy forbids marshals from speaking out about their job or criticizing the service, no marshals would speak for attribution. One air marshal is suing Homeland Security over the policy.
I.C. Smith, a retired FBI agent and national security expert, said: "It is clear these marshals know that these security checkpoints are not fail-safe. You read about reports all the time of stuff slipping through. They have to really expect the worst. And I think that is probably what happened in this case."
DeFazio said the shooting should prompt reassessment of screening procedures and equipment that he called outdated.
"We're running passenger checkpoints for carry-on bags that are incapable of finding plastic explosives," DeFazio said by telephone from an airport where he was waiting for a flight. "The kind of X-rays they're using were thrown out of the Capitol years ago because they weren't able to catch anything.
"We have technologies — walk-through portals — but the administration doesn't want to spend the money to buy it," he said.<snip>
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