By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 26, 2003; Page E02

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J., Nov. 25 -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge voiced support Tuesday for a long-term role for the nation's undercover air marshals, saying that terrorists' continuing interest in attacking airliners will require a robust program "for the next several years."

Despite new security measures such as reinforced cockpit doors and guns in some cockpits, Ridge said the thousands of air marshals who ride on commercial airline flights, disguised as passengers, serve as an important deterrent.

"In the threat environment right now . . . aviation security will be one of the highest priorities of this country and should be one of the highest priorities around the world," Ridge said on his first tour of the marshals' expansive training facility near Atlantic City. "I don't see a reduced reduction of federal air marshals for the next several years."

The secretary's remarks came as some in the aviation industry have wondered whether the nation still needs air marshals, and a day after the General Accounting Office criticized the division for management problems as it ramped up in size.

On Tuesday, the air marshal program officially moved into the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division from the Transportation Security Administration, a change that will provide air marshals with long-term career prospects to take on other tasks.

The air marshal force has grown exponentially from 33 agents at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist hijackings to thousands flying today. The exact number of undercover agents is classified, but the agency said that it has more marshals aboard flights every week than it had in its entire history before the attacks.

On his tour of the facilities yesterday, Ridge observed air marshals in role-playing exercises with plastic guns and knives, with one marshal pretending to be a hijacker and the other trying to remove the hijacker's weapon. Ridge also donned protective goggles to see other groups of air marshals shooting at close-range targets and role-playing aboard an aircraft on the grounds.

Next month, air marshal director Tom Quinn said, the agency will better monitor how many armed agents from other government divisions are aboard aircraft so that air marshals do not duplicate duties aboard those flights. In January, an additional 5,000 immigration and customs law enforcement officers will begin training in air marshal tactics, so that they could be deployed on flights during periods of heightened threats.

According to a GAO report released Monday, the air marshal program's rapid expansion came with growing pains. In the past two years, the agency has suffered from a backlog of incomplete background checks, complaints by overworked and fatigued marshals, and disputes with airline personnel.

For instance, the agency recorded nearly 600 reports of misconduct by air marshals between October 2001 and July 2003. Most incidents were related to improper use of government credit cards, failure to follow orders and reports from airlines that air marshals were abusive to airline employees during boarding.

The report also said that air marshals have assisted in arresting 28 people, many of them deranged passengers who posed security threats, Quinn said. None of the arrests were terrorist-related.

"Success is not in making an arrest," Quinn said. "Success is the absence of hijackings."