Hank Investigates: Air Marshals

Jim Tully, Former Air Marshal
"It was to take action, if we reasonably could, if there was a hijacking and try to stop it."

After four planes were hijacked and blown up by middle eastern guerillas in 1970, President Nixon ordered an elite force of highly trained marshals to monitor air travel. Jim Tully, just home from Vietnam, signed up.

Jim Tully
"There are a lot of lives in your hands."

Carrying a concealed 38, Tully's task was to watch for any signs of trouble.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Did the pilot and crew know who you were?"

Jim Tully
"I don't want to say."

Back then, hijackings were common for money, for political reasons, to get to Cuba.

In 1968 these passengers were on one of 29 hijacked flights. In 1970, before the air marshals began monitoring the system, 75 flights were hijacked. As ground security grew more stringent, and the number of domestic hijackings dropped significantly, air marshals were phased out. They were reactivated for international flights after the hijacking of TWA 847.

But in 1997, this GAO report charged the program with "administrative deficiencies," and "excessive overtime". In other words, it was too costing too much.

Now, transportation secretary Norman Mineta is proposing gearing up the program again.

But remember the video, some critics worry about the move, fearing increased danger to passengers.

Jim Tully
"That potential exists, highly trained people need to know when to shoot as well as when not to shoot."

But knowing what he knows, Tully says he's pretty sure what might have happened had someone like him been aboard last Tuesday.

Jim Tully
"I would say that a team of sky marshals that are armed against several hijacker with knives… I'd put my money on the sky marshals."

But we'll never know. Information about air marshals is highly classified. The FAA will not reveal the number or identity of the marshals, the details of their training or any information about the routes they fly.