Category: Cops
Bradley Wendt knows he may be in some trouble. But he’s holding out hope that being criminally charged with lying to the feds while selling machine guns for a profit—allegations he denies—might not be the career setback it looks like.
The police chief of Adair, Iowa, a tiny town of about 800 people with three other officers on its force, Wendt was placed on leave in September after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) raided his office and his two gun stores.
This week, the feds detailed their case against him, saying Wendt obtained dozens of machine guns for his trio of cops over the last four years. According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Wendt was exploiting his law enforcement position to obtain military-level weaponry that he resold in his private gun stores—and his buddy’s separate firearms business.
In a Friday phone call and text message exchange with The Daily Beast, Wendt admitted that he was “overwhelmed” by the allegations. And while he deferred any questions about the indictment to his attorney, Wendt added that he “certainly” hopes he can keep his job as the top cop in Adair.
The decision, he said, is “up to city council members,” who are set to have a meeting on Monday to discuss his career fate.
“I just want people to know the truth,” he said—before his attorney added that his client was just trying to do right by his neighbors.
“Mr. Wendt’s purpose here was not to provide a personal benefit to himself or anyone else. He is a trained police officer and firearms instructor, as well as a Federal Firearms Licensee, and only sought to benefit his community,” his lawyer, Nick Klinefeldt, told The Daily Beast.
By all accounts, Adair is quintessential small-town America. The rural enclave, which sits roughly an hour outside Des Moines, has six churches and one main road. The place is best known for its massive yellow “smiley-face” water tower along Interstate 80.
“Welcome to Adair, it’ll make you smile,” the city’s slogan states.
So when Chief Wendt started collecting machine guns, the feds took notice.
“Brad Wendt is charged with exploiting his position as chief of police to unlawfully obtain and sell guns for his own personal profit,” FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said in a statement.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that between July 2018 and August 2022, Wendt provided “law letters” to the ATF in which he justified his acquisition of guns “not lawfully available to the public” by falsely claiming they were for his department—or that he wanted them demonstrated to his officers for potential future purchases.
Then, Wendt and his friend, Robert Williams, would allegedly either resell a majority of their weapons or have paid demonstrations where patrons could shoot the machine guns.
In all, Wendt allegedly requested 90 machine guns for purchase or demonstration. ATF did not approve all the police chief’s requests for the latter.
Wendt and Williams have been charged with conspiracy to make false statements and defraud the ATF—and the police chief is also facing 18 additional counts of making a false statement to the federal agency and one count of illegal possession of a machine gun. Williams is charged with three counts of making a false statement and aiding and abetting a false statement to the ATF. (His attorney told The Daily Beast that all the firearms associated with Williams “were acquired after ATF approval with letters authored by Chief Wendt that tracked ATF forms indicating an interest in seeing sample firearms, and the firearms were all accounted for in Mr. Williams’ inventory.”)
Wendt’s lawyer said the police chief intends to plead not guilty to the charges, stating his client “has faithfully and honorably served the people of Iowa as a law enforcement officer for over 20 years.”
“All of the transactions were approved with the full knowledge of the ATF. He looks forward to proving his innocence at trial,” Klinefeldt added.
The lawyer did not respond to a follow-up request for clarification about how, exactly, Wendt obtaining and demonstrating the use of military-style weapons would benefit the residents of Adair.
Neither Adair’s mayor nor any of its city council members responded to a request for comment. Adair City Attorney Clint Fichter declined to comment about whether Wendt has been permanently removed as police chief after his arrest, stating, “I don’t support the media anyway.”
This is not Wendt’s first time having to defend himself against some wild allegations.
After nine years serving as a police officer with the Denison, Iowa, Police Department, Wendt was fired by the city in February 2017 after a lengthy administrative leave spurred by charges he was hit with two years prior. In December 2015, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources alleged that Wendt illegally killed two buck deer with two other people.
The case was eventually dismissed in November 2016. Wendt’s request to be reinstated, however, was denied by the City of Denison—which claimed that his conduct was in violation of numerous rules of the police department.
Wendt went on to file a preliminary injunction, claiming retaliation, before ultimately filing another lawsuit against the city and police department. In the end, he settled both legal actions in 2019, receiving more than $600,000 from the city due to the alleged emotional distress and loss of wages from the whole debacle. The Denison Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wendt soon found employment again, scoring a job at the Lake View, Iowa, Police Department—before becoming Adair’s chief of police in July 2018. Meanwhile, the indictment states that Wendt has owned two firearm supply stores—BW Outfitters—since 2013.
Prosecutors say that Wendt’s scheme involved both layers of his professional life—that he “obtained 10 machine guns for the Adair Police Department and 13 machine guns for BW Outfitters.”
He also allegedly wrote “approximately 22 additional demonstration law letters… requesting a demonstration of 52 total machine guns to the Adair Police Department for potential future purchase,” the indictment states. “Of those 52 guns requested by Wendt for demonstration… approximately 27 were in fact transferred and acquired” by other gun stores.
In total, prosecutors allege that Wendt purchased 25 machine guns for his police department—of four total people, including himself—and requested 65 more for demonstration. Among the weapons Wendt sought to obtain for the department, according to the feds, was a rotary M134 minigun, a firearm that is usually mounted on military helicopters.
“The Adair Police Department does not own a helicopter,” the indictment says, noting the ATF denied the transfer.
Then, Wendt allegedly sold several guns registered to the force for profit—and rented out machine guns registered to his department or gun store. The indictment notes that some of the weapons were bought with Wendt’s personal funds, and it is not immediately clear if he used any city money in the alleged scheme.
If Wendt is determined to paint the federal case as some kind of harsh crackdown on sane gun-loving behavior, he may not be able to count on universal support from the local law enforcement community.
A spokesperson for the Iowa Police Chiefs Association said that while she was not familiar with Wendt’s case, the organization “partners with federal law enforcement agencies and that includes ATF.”
“All officers are sworn to an oath to enforce the laws of the land and Constitution,” the spokesperson added. “Violating that oath is an embarrassment to the profession.”
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers said Friday the agency intercepted a record number of firearms at airport security checkpoints this year, a nearly 10% increase over 2021’s record level.
Officials reported the agency stopped 6,301 firearms from crossing through secure areas of airports since the beginning of 2022 and anticipates detaining approximately 300 more before the new year. Of those firearms, more than 88% were loaded, the agency said.
The number of firearm interceptions surpassed the previous record of 5,972 firearms detected in 2021.
“I applaud the work of our Transportation Security Officers who do an excellent job of preventing firearms from getting into the secure area of airports, and onboard aircraft,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a news release. “Firearms are prohibited in carry-on bags at the checkpoint and onboard aircraft.”
Although firearm possession laws vary by state and local government, passengers are prohibited from carrying guns in carry-on bags at any TSA security checkpoint, even if a passenger has a concealed weapon permit. However, the agency says passengers may travel with a firearm — but it must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage only and declared each time they present it for transport as checked baggage.
The agency said that TSA had increased the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to $14,950 to reduce the threat of firearms at checkpoints.
“When a passenger brings a firearm to the checkpoint, this consumes significant security resources and poses a potential threat to transportation security, in addition to being very costly for the passenger,” Pekoske said.
According to the agency, TSA firearm catches have increased since 2010, rising from just 1,123. However, the number of interceptions dipped in 2020 by more than 1,000 amid the COVID pandemic, when the industry took a massive hit after non-essential air travel nearly came to a complete stop.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an expert on aviation security, told The New York Times, “the majority of people are not doing it with malicious intent.”
“They’re simply forgetting,” Dr. Jacobson said, adding the gun sales increasing nationwide among first-time gun buyers could explain the rise in interceptions.
Last year, the Times reported data from Northeastern University and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center that showed about a fifth of all Americans bought firearms for the first time, with about 39 percent of all American households owning guns.
Comparing the number of Americans owning a firearm from 2016, a General Social Survey, a public opinion poll conducted by a research center at the University of Chicago, showed that the number increased from 32 percent.
David Fitz, a spokesman for the TSA, told the Times that “the most common reason given by passengers bringing a firearm into a checkpoint is ‘I forgot it was in the bag’ or ‘Someone else packed my bag for me.’”
Fitz added that most “parts of the country where open carry and concealed weapons permits are higher” trend typically in Southern states.
The agency said although some airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition, passengers traveling by air who wish to transport firearms must do so in checked baggage by following proper packing guidance for firearms in checked baggage.
Categories
Turkey shoot in Georgia
Fatal shots were fired last month after several young men broke into an Atlanta home on Thanksgiving Day.
Police determined that the suspects attempted to break into a home in the Gresham Park neighborhood of Atlanta. The homeowner exercised his 2nd Amendment rights, firing on the intruders, who appear to have returned fire as well.
A neighbor said that she didn’t realize it was gunfire when she first heard the ruckus.
“I didn’t even think they were gunshots. I thought they were fireworks because there were so many,” she told FOX 5. “It’s very disturbing to see that.”
Preliminary reports stated that police were called by neighbors when shots were detected. They arrived on the scene and found several males, ages 23, 18, and 15.
All three had sustained gunshot wounds and were rushed to a local hospital, where the 18-year-old, Taneaious McCune, died due to his injuries.
Follow-up reports say another man, 30-year-old Telvin Thomas, showed up at the hospital afterward with similar bullet wounds. It has since been determined that he had also been involved in the break-in.
WSBtv reported on the events and disclosed that police say another group had been found and “were detained on the scene with the help of SWAT officers.” This group appears to have been planning to help with the home invasion.
After reviewing information, the authorities told WXIA that they deem the homeowner to have fired the shots in an act of self-defense, which “seemed justified.” No charges are likely to be filed against the homeowner.
Rather, the suspects are facing charges of criminal murder for the death of their accomplice.
The following Sunday, just days after the first incident, a candlelight vigil was being held for 18-year-old McCune. During the vigil, more shots rang out.
Police arrived at the scene to find 1 dead and 2 injured, all of them minors.
The perpetrator had left on foot, and according to The Atlanta Journal, detectives are actively working to identify the suspect.
Unfortunately for the people gathered at the vigil, no one stepped up to defend the group from the shooter. Hopefully, after these two events, residents in the neighborhood will take measures to ensure they can adequately protect themselves and their loved ones.
Honolulu Police Chief Arther “Joe” Logan has asked residents to call the police if they see another citizen open-carrying. This request, from a live stream for “Spotlight Hawaii,” comes on the heels of the HPD issuing concealed-carry licenses.
According to Logan, dispatched officers will be required to investigate any complaints. Police will need a physical description of the person in question as well as any other detail that can aid in their investigation.
“Obviously, concealed carry and the definition of ‘conceal’ means that you can’t see it or it is unrecognizable to the average person,” said Logan. “If it is noticed and you can see it, I would ask you to call 911.”
Back in June, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen that struck down New York’s “may-issue” carry scheme and opened the door for firearm enthusiasts to carry across the country.
However, it has also led to some controversial requirements for those wishing to obtain a permit in Honolulu. An applicant must be able to remove their weapon from the holster and hit a silhouette target, placed at five distances, from nine to 45 feet.
SEE ALSO: Federal Judge Strikes Down Draconian Hawaii Handgun Purchase Requirements
The owner of 808 Gun Club Tom Tomimbang said last month that he is not too concerned about the requirements in an interview with Hawaii News Now.
“Practice, practice, practice, right?” Tomimbang said. “If they do that before they take the actual qualification course, they should be able to do it.”
Chief Logan says this requirement test is not really to prove someone can shoot, but that they can shoot under duress – which is why they added a timed element to the test.
“You might have to learn how to cope with that stress while shooting,” he said.
Currently, there are around 600 pending applications for CCW licenses on Oahu, and they are being processed in the order in which they were received.
Aside from the requirement test, these 90-day applications require applicants to undergo background checks, mental health evaluations, and live-fire training before the HPD issues the certification – similar to a driver’s license with a picture included.
Gun carriers who get caught in public without their license will face a misdemeanor criminal offense.
Chief Logan has declared that he will not wait on the city of Oahu to complete action on Bill 57, which would limit concealed carriers from possessing a weapon on public transit, at schools, or in the voting booth.
SEE ALSO: Smith & Wesson Files Suit in Hawaii for Public Records Disclosures
Furthermore, the bill would also prevent carrying in Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center, the Honolulu Aquarium and the Honolulu Zoo. Those permitted to concealed-carry would also be required to stand 100 feet away from the outer edge of groups of 25 or more who are participating in “first amendment expressive activities.”
State Legislature is expected to discuss adopting statewide standards for carrying restrictions by location in January. Meanwhile, Bill 57 passed the initial reading at a November 29th city council meeting. The bill is required to be voted on twice more before it can be implemented.
Logan has been making the rounds with members of the city council to ensure the language of the bill is clear for citizens and law enforcement alike. He wants everyone to understand what to do in confusing situations where a legal carrier is forced to pick up their child from school last minute. According to Logan, these murky circumstances need some elaboration.
“The way the language of the law is written is really going to impact how we enforce, ” Logan said. “It’s something we need to figure out.”
Logan says that with officers putting their lives in danger, a clearly worded ordinance or law is expected to protect them.
“It becomes a little difficult for us on an enforcement level, ” said Logan. “We’re already asking our officers to do a lot.”
Philadelphia gas station owner Neil Patel hired security guards with AR-15s to deal with all the “nonsense, drug trafficking, hanging around, [and] gangs” endangering his employees.
Patel, who has a Karco gas station, hired “Pennsylvania S.I.T.E Agents clad with Kevlar vest and AR-15s or shotguns” to keep his employees safe, FOX 29 reports.
“They are forcing us to hire the security, high-level security, state level. We are tired of this nonsense: robbery, drug trafficking, hanging around, gangs,” Patel said.
The guards he hired wear Kevlar vests and train regularly, maintaining firearm proficiency.
Prior to hiring the guards, Patel’s car was vandalized and an ATM was stolen from his gas station. But FOX News notes Patel’s observation that crimes–including loitering–ended once he hired security.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
————————————————————————————– If the state won’t do its job than somebody is going to have to pick up the slack. I really think that we are going see a LOT more of this coming down the pike! Grumpy
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, together with 17 other state attorneys general, are asking shipping companies UPS and FedEx to explain their newly implemented policies to track and record Americans’ firearms purchases and disclose whether these policies have been coordinated with the Biden administration.
In letters sent on Nov. 29 to FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam and UPS CEO Carol B. Tomé, Knudsen and his co-signers wrote that the shipping companies’ policies “allow your company to track firearm sales with unprecedented specificity and bypass warrant requirements to share that information with federal agencies.”
“What both of these companies are saying is that they’re doing this so they can better cooperate with law enforcement,” Knudsen told The Epoch Times. “That’s all fine and well, until you find out that that’s a violation of federal law.”
Based on reports from gun stores, Knudsen’s letter states, FedEx and UPS are now requiring federal firearms license holders to provide details of each shipment to the shipping companies, including the contents and recipient, allowing them “to create a database of American gun purchasers and determine exactly what items they purchased.
Citing the new policies, the letter states: “Perhaps most concerning, your policies allegedly allow FedEx [and UPS] to ‘comply with … requests from applicable law enforcement or other governmental authorities’ even when those requests are ‘inconsistent or contrary to any applicable law, rule, regulation, or order.’ In doing so you—perhaps inadvertently—give federal agencies a workaround to federal law, which has long prevented federal agencies from using gun sales to create gun registries.”
“The ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] is hoping they’re not going to have a warrant problem,” Knudsen said. “They could just go get this information from UPS and FedEx.”
FedEx and UPS’s new gun-tracking policies follow efforts by Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to also monitor purchases from gun stores, with the intention of handing that information over to federal law enforcement. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from conducting searches of U.S. citizens without a warrant and “probable cause” that a crime was committed.
Increasingly, however, banks, credit card companies, and now shipping companies are conducting those searches on the government’s behalf.
The letter demands that the shipping companies respond within 30 days, clarifying their policies and explaining whether or not they acted in coordination with the ATF or any other government agency. It also asks them to clarify a reported “gag order” under which they directed gun shops not to disclose the terms of this policy to the public.
Possible Collusion?
The two letters to UPS and FedEx were virtually identical because the policies the companies implemented appear to be strikingly similar, raising the additional issue of possible collusion between companies that hold an oligopolistic position in shipping. Collusion in restraint of trade has long been illegal under U.S. antitrust laws, including the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.
“It’s either collusion, they’re working together, or what I suspect is, it’s probably originating out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or the Biden administration,” Knudsen said. His letter recommends that the shipping companies “consider taking actions to limit potential liability moving forward, including the immediate cessation of any existing warrantless information sharing with federal agencies about gun shipments.”
If the shipping companies don’t answer his questions within 30 days, Knudsen said, “I’ll probably start with an actual formal civil investigative demand where we’ll ask for some documentation. That’s short of a subpoena and an actual lawsuit, but, ultimately, if they don’t want to cooperate, a lawsuit is where we’re going to end up.”
In response to the letter, FedEx told The Epoch Times in a statement that “FedEx is aware of the letter from the state attorneys general. We are committed to the lawful and safe movement of regulated items through our network.”
UPS responded that it “has not bypassed any laws to provide customer information to the Biden administration or federal agencies related to the shipment of firearms. UPS will only provide information about our customers or shipments when required to do so by law, such as in response to a subpoena or a warrant.”
UPS “will respond to the letter sent by several state attorneys general to answer their questions and clarify misinformation. UPS will continue to abide by all applicable laws in providing service for firearm shipments,” it stated.
“The policies set forth by FedEx and UPS are troubling, to say the least,” Mark Oliva, public affairs director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told The Epoch Times. “They carry with them serious risk of privacy concerns for law-abiding gun owners, and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is correct to be wary of how this information is to be used.
“We know that pressure was applied to these common carriers by antigun Democratic senators and the result was these new policies. It does seem rather coincidental that the Biden administration and certain elected officials that have been frustrated in instituting extreme gun control measures are suddenly and curiously seeing big businesses doing exactly what they are not allowed to do by law.”
Knudsen was asked why the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which is tasked with protecting consumers against corporate collusion, is taking no action against what appears to be a coordinated effort by the shipping companies to target the firearms industry.
“I think there’s probably pressure from the White House to not do that, which is why you’re seeing AGs in states like Montana that have joined me to push back on this. If the federal government isn’t going to do their job, we’ll step in and make them do it.”
He said that gun shops are being targeted not only by credit card and shipping companies but by insurers as well.
“I’m aware of a number of FFL brick-and-mortar gun shops, and also some retailers that are just middlemen in Montana, that have been denied property-casualty insurance on their business property simply because they’re in the firearms industry.”
Kevin Stocklin is a writer, film producer, and former investment banker. He wrote and produced “We All Fall Down: The American Mortgage Crisis,” a 2008 documentary on the collapse of the U.S. mortgage finance system.
JTN, Capitol Police, FBI uncover new potential deadly risk to female officers from body armor “Memo reveals new lab testing detected “skip effect” in which bullet can ricochet toward neck, jugular vein.”
The U.S. Capitol Police alerted its rank-and-file this month that FBI lab testing of long-approved body armor has uncovered a previously unknown flaw that can subject female officers to deadly ricochets from bullets.
The advisory, obtained by Just the News, revealed that the FBI first detected the problem, known as the “skip effect,” when it “departed from legacy testing protocols in a desire to test body armor in an ‘as worn’ condition, and to account for various body shapes and sizes.”
“The testing revealed that when a projectile strikes the female body armor at an extreme angle on the upper chest area, the projectile does not penetrate the body armor, but rather, skips or deflects off the surface of the armor into the neck region,” the advisory explained. “Because of the angle at which female body armor lays when worn, projectiles may skip off the top center of the female armor and travel to the area of the jugular notch” in the neck where the jugular vein passes.
The advisory said the current body armor that had been utilized by the FBI, Capitol Police and other law enforcement had been certified by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for years, but the FBI decided to create new testing to take into effect among other things the curvature of women’s bodies on potential ricochet.
After the FBI tests unmasked the “skip effect,” Capitol Police sent its armor to the FBI Ballistic Research Facility and confirmed the same problem and has assembled a team of executives and union members to find a fix, the memo stated.
“The USCP is committed to maximizing officer safety,” the memo stated. “Therefore, although all Department body armor is certified by the NIJ, the Department is immediately undertaking steps to mitigate the risk outlined above for our female officers. To be clear, this is not an issue specific to USCP-issued body armor, or FBI body armor, but rather a newly discovered risk with all known commercial body armor. Body armor simply has not accounted for certain body shapes and ‘as worn’ conditions when being developed, tested, and certified.
EXCLUSIVE — U.S. air marshals are planning to stage an open rebellion against the Biden administration over a plan that would strip 99% of commercial flights from federal protection as people take to the skies during the busiest time of the year for air travel .
Dozens of federal air marshals have agreed to refuse a Biden administration order that they leave their assignments and go to the southern border , where they will drive, feed, and care for illegal immigrants due to a shortage of Border Patrol agents.
“The rank and file air marshals are going to refuse to deploy and risk termination,” said David Londo, president of the Air Marshal National Council, in a phone call with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of.”
The overseeing agency, the Transportation Security Administration, said in a statement provided after deadline that claims that air marshals are doing menial tasks were “entirely inaccurate and does not reflect the critical and professional law enforcement role these officers perform.”
The administration’s order would leave just 1-in-100 U.S. flights with federal agents on board, one-eighth of its normal coverage.
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: BORDER PATROL AGENTS FEAR COLLAPSE OF TITLE 42
It is the first time amid the 20-month-long unresolved border crisis that federal employees have formally turned against President Joe Biden and his Senate-confirmed officials at the Department of Homeland Security . The air marshals are willing to risk everything for how the government is risking national security, Londo explained.
“Morale is so destroyed from this,” said Londo, whose organization serves as an association, not a union. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Air marshals would be risking their jobs as inflation rages and the United States potentially heads into a recession.
The air marshals, who are federal law enforcement agents within the Transportation Security Administration’s Federal Air Marshal Service, have been tasked with menial jobs at the border.
Just this week, air marshals pulled from planes and sent to the border were “heating up sandwiches,” driving immigrants in custody to the hospital and waiting inside for hours on hospital watch, and effectively babysitting adults who are already in confined spaces, Londo said.
“These highly skilled [air marshals] are being made to perform mainly non-law enforcement civilian humanitarian duties,” Londo wrote in the letter obtained first by the Washington Examiner.
In mid-2021, the Federal Air Marshal Service asked for volunteers willing to go to the southern border for 30 days and help process the growing number of illegal immigrants in custody. Earlier this month, the government changed course and announced that the deployments would become mandatory.
The air marshals fought the order but only got the length of the deployment dropped from 30 days to 21 days. DHS ordered a minimum of 150 more air marshals to the border on Dec. 7. At present, dozens plan to refuse and are preparing to be fired for taking the stand.
“Air marshals are deployed two to three nights a week. Now they’re taking them away, and their marriages are already on the rocks,” Londo said.
On Monday, the Federal Air Marshal Service’s Miami Field Office announced the deployments would now last indefinitely. Air marshals have already been sent to El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen, Texas; San Diego; and Tucson and Yuma, Arizona.
The council sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as well as the TSA and Federal Air Marshal Service on Monday, warning them that the order is self-defeating because it makes the skies less safe for people traveling during the busiest time of the year.
“According to the Federal Aviation Administration year to date there have been 2,178 reports of unruly passengers, 767 investigations initiated, and 517 enforcement actions taken. Not to mention the fact there has been two attempted attacks on our homeland since 9-11 during the holiday season,” the letter states. “Your policy has resulted in a complete loss of confidence in Secretary Mayorkas, FAM Director Stevenson, and Administrator Pekoske’s ability to lead DHS/TSA/FAMS.”
Londo pointed in his letter to recent violent passenger attacks midflight that involved weapons smuggled aboard the plane, as well as a cockpit breach on a Southwest Airlines flight last week.
The National Association of Police Organizations issued a statement in support of the air marshals and warned that they were already in a bad place before the deployments became mandatory.
“The Federal Air Marshal Service is understaffed and covering the fewest number of flights since before September 11, 2001,” said NAPO, a coalition of more than 1,000 police departments across the country. “We strongly question the decision by the Department of Homeland Security to divert much-needed aviation security to the southern border especially as we enter the busiest travel season of the year, particularly as a Federal emergency has not been declared at the border.”
Behind the scenes, the council is working with the DHS Office of Inspector General to launch a federal investigation into the Biden administration’s repurposing of air marshals.
Hondo accused TSA Administrator David Pekoske and Federal Air Marshal Service Director Tirrell Stevenson of “fraud, waste, and abuse of authority and violations of federal law” in a letter sent to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner.
In the Nov. 18 letter, Hondo called on the inspector general to investigate the legality of the air marshal deployments. He wrote that the only exception to pulling air marshals from their jobs would be in the case of a declared national emergency, which has not been declared. Even if an emergency were declared, air marshals would only be permitted to assist other agencies with transportation-related matters.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Biden administration has refused to call the record-high number of noncitizens being encountered at the border over the past 20 months a crisis. Border agents have encountered approximately 4 million people attempting to illegally enter the U.S. since Biden took office — more than the Obama administration’s eight years in office.
The TSA defended the operation in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner early Wednesday.
“Federal Air Marshals are performing law enforcement support to the mission at the southwest border,” according to a TSA spokesman. “The TSA Federal Air Marshal Service is a highly valued member of the DHS law enforcement team and has an ever-expanding role within DHS, working closely with other U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to safeguard the nation’s transportation systems.”