About time, FAMS gets new duds

Wow, this is what 5 years late?! Maybe they can now begin to work on the high visibility created when these "air cops" walk around the metal detectors and board the plane before even the first class passengers. So now the person avoiding metal detectors and boarding early might be wearing "civilian" clothes. These guys will still be easy to spot. Hell of an outfit they are running over there.

Air Marshals Get New Dress Code Policy

By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 24, 2006; 5:30 PM

On your next flight to the tropics, the person sitting next to you in a Hawaiian shirt might be armed. At least that's the implication of a new dress code policy announced today in memo sent to air marshals by Dana Brown, director of the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service. The dress code will take effect Sept. 1 and will replace a more controversial policy that some air marshals criticized for being so strict that they stood out on some flights.

Brown told air marshals in the memo that the dress code was being amended to "allow you to dress at your discretion." He added that the new policy is designed to let air marshals blend into their environment while still being able to conceal their weapons. "It's not about the clothing," said Conan Bruce, a spokesman for the service. "It's the ability to blend into wherever you are going."

The service, part of the Transportation Security Administration, had been criticized in the past for having too strict a dress code. Accounts of the dress code vary, but generally air marshals were required to wear collared shirts, sport coats and dress shoes. A year ago, the service loosened some of the restrictions, officials said.

However, some air marshals felt that was still too strict a dress code. Those complaints led the service to issue the new policy, officials said.