Hello!

Does anybody know whether the airplane flight crew gets officially warned about any law enforcement officers or any other legal firearm carriers on board of the plane and what information do they get on them?

I know that they get a formal special passenger notification regarding prisoners and their escort but those are kind of obvious even without the paperwork and those will require special attention unlike officers who are alone.

Do officers still carry their guns on the scheduled planes when traveling about their own personal business like they used to? Or I guess that normally depends on their agency and the laws of the country where they serve?

The only people who are allowed to carry on planes are air marshals and maybe LE on a prisoner transport detail. Quite frankly, it's none of their damn business if the passengers can pass through the metal detector.

Sorry did not quite understand what you said?

Do you mean that the crew does not care?

LE on a prisoner transport detail.

i thought only us marshals did that.

Sorry did not quite understand what you said?

Do you mean that the crew does not care?

No, it means we have rights here and so long as they are not breaking the law (ie: bring a gun on a plane) its none of their business.

The only time state and local LE can bring a firearm into the passenger cabin is if they need it for their job (meaning prisoner transport, protection detail, official travel where they'll be working on the other end, or engaged in surveillance), where they are doing law enforcement on the actual plane or immediately afterwards (if they will do it right after, say, leaving the airport, it doesn't count -- they must check the gun unless they're doing LE tasks on board or in between landing and reclaiming bags). They must have direct approval from their department for each and every flight they take. Obviously, they can also put unloaded firearms in checked baggage like anyone else.

Federal LEOs have much broader ability to fly armed: a federal LE agency can authorize its agents to always fly armed, even on personal travel (this is not an option for a state or local agency). In that case, I think the captain is still always notified; a captain has virtually total authority over their aircraft, and I'm pretty sure they can order LEOs to disarm or get off the aircraft. I know they can order things like uncuffing people in custody (because that's a safety issue, and the pilot in command is the final authority over anything having to do with the operation of the aircraft). FAMs are a bit different since federal law requires airlines to carry them (the PIC can probably remove them for a good reason, like drunkenness), but I strongly suspect PICs are notified because, again, they are the final authority over the aircraft and have a good reason to know someone is armed on board (likewise, cabin crew have a good reason to know who's a FAM, so they know who to tell if there's an issue).

Most of the details aren't available from any official source; the TSA has an obsessive policy of "classifying" just about anything that anything to do with airplane security.

As I understand the captain has the right to require armed people to give their weapons up for the time of the flight. Also I heard of actual cases where airplane captains required transported prisoners to be uncuffed at least for take off and landing for safety just in case.

And regarding the sky marshals in some particular cases it looks like at least somebody of the crew knew about them and in some cases it looks like nobody knew. Even real pilots themselves seem to be in doubt whether they would be notified properly and all tell different stories.

Also what if the plane captain or the rest of the crew are foreign citizens or the plane registration belongs to a foreign country? Those sky marshals identity is considered confidential and it would be weird to reveal it to commercial airline employees especially if they are foreign?

Edited June 29, 201510 yr by Cop1980

L.E. can have their firearms on board and properly secured they have to notifiy airport security and the airline ahead of time 

Well they have to notify the airline but does the airline notify the crew actually on the plane?

L.E. can have their firearms on board and properly secured they have to notifiy airport security and the airline ahead of time 

For state and local LE, only on official business (unless you mean "unloaded and in a locked case in checked baggage", which *anyone* can do). The regulations are quite clear on this point: only allowed if they are performing law enforcement duties on the plane or in between getting off and retrieving checked bags.

Well they have to notify the airline but does the airline notify the crew actually on the plane?

For non-FAM LEOs, yes, it's required under 49 CFR 1544.219(a)(4)(v). 1544.219(a) in general doesn't apply to FAMs, and there doesn't seem to be public official policies about this for FAMs, but ASRS (NASA's anonymous reporting system for aviation safety incidents) has several entries along the lines of "flight and/or cabin crew were not notified," implying that the normal policy (which flight and cabin crew are told about) is that they are notified.

Edited June 29, 201510 yr by cp702

From reading a few of those incident reports it turns out that at least in America they present their identification to the gate agent who in turn should notify the captain and in some particular cases they have a sort of a briefing with the crew.

I still do not understand however whether commercial employees are responsible in any way for keeping their identity secure the same way the government agencies do and how it all works in foreign countries. Actually what kind of responsibility could possibly airline people bear if they are not government employees and have no classified information rights or anything and if they do not then why are quite many of them pretty concerned to talk about this?

From reading a few of those incident reports it turns out that at least in America they present their identification to the gate agent who in turn should notify the captain and in some particular cases they have a sort of a briefing with the crew.

I still do not understand however whether commercial employees are responsible in any way for keeping their identity secure the same way the government agencies do and how it all works in foreign countries. Actually what kind of responsibility could possibly airline people bear if they are not government employees and have no classified information rights or anything and if they do not then why are quite many of them pretty concerned to talk about this?

Per 49 CFR 1520.9, "covered persons" (including everyone who legally receives Sensitive Security Information) has a duty to protect it and only share it with people with the need to know; violation is grounds for a civil penalty.

You are also grossly overestimating the sensitivity of the identities of FAMs, and grossly underestimating the degree to which non-governmental employees are allowed to access classified information. The identity of FAMs is not classified. Their operational procedures (at least, those that flight crew need to be aware of) are not classified. Whether FAMs are on a flight is not classified. It is sensitive, but is unclassified material. No security clearance is needed for it (and thus, you don't need to be a US citizen to receive it, nor do you need a background check); disclosure is not a criminal offense (disclosure of classified material is also not normally criminal, but SSI disclosure is considered much less serious). FAMs are not intelligence agents. Disclosure of their identities does not appreciably damage national security. In short, SSI is really not that serious, and the need to know far outweighs the sensitivity for airline crew.

On the flipside, private companies and their employees receive access to classified information (not just SSI) all the time. The US government makes extensive use of contractors; contractors routinely receive clearances up to and including TS/SCI (for agencies following the DoD model) or Q (for the Department of Energy, gives access to nuclear weapon design information). People whose jobs involve working with national security information receive clearances on the same basis as federal employees; I think contractor background investigations are done by contractors instead of by federal employees, but the actual clearance is issued on the same basis.

So, no, SSI is not classified and is not really that big a deal to tell airline personnel, and non-federal employees routinely receive access to classified information (the US government has no issue trusting non-employees who pass a background check).