"A National Disgrace"

Via CNN, more disturbing news about the state of the Transportation Safety Administration. This time it's about the state of the air marshal program:

More than a dozen current and former marshals said that so many federal air marshals have resigned and are not being replaced, airport screeners are being employed to fill the dwindling ranks.

But the Transportation Security Administration says that's not true and that the rate of those leaving has remained at 6.5 percent a year since 2001.

A former federal air marshal and weapons trainer who left the agency in 2006 after four years of service said the situation was so bad that managers at his office fudged the numbers by assigning marshals to short, no-risk flights.

The former marshal said that was done to make it appear that the percentage of manned flights was higher than it really was.

Sadly, it is a recurring M.O. for the Bush administration to cover up their incompetence and corruption by fudging numbers and revising (downgrading) standards. And sadly, it is the American people, whether citizens of New Orleans, soldiers serving their country in Iraq or passengers on commercial airlines, who bear the burden of their foolishness.