TAMPA, Florida -- Five current and former federal air marshals who first talked to the 10 News Investigators more than two years ago are calling a 21-month-long Office of Inspector General report on the agency a total whitewash and an embarrassment.
The air marshals insist the report missed the incompetence and discrimination displayed by mangers in the agency and the danger that incompetence causes in the skies.
"We asked for an investigation and we got an inspection," says Theo Doropoulos, a former air marshal who is not alone in his criticism.
Three current air marshals who asked us to not use their names are also upset with the report. "This is a whitewash. It's a whitewash from the top down," says one.
"They didn't try to find any evidence. They never interviewed the right people," says another.
"It affects us. And if it affects us, it affects the flying public. I'd be embarrassed to put my name to this," says a third.
The trigger for the investigation was a "Jeopardy" type game board we exposed in 2010. Managers in the training office in Orlando used the board to play a game disparaging African-Americans, gays, lesbians, Hispanics, and veterans.
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"They are trying and attempting in every way to run from this game board," says Doropoulos.
To the air marshals, the board is symbolic of the system-wide attitude of managers in the agency. However, the inspector general's report says the board was not a source of allegations or retaliation and discrimination in other field offices. It goes on to say the board was used to make fun of those on the training staff, not others. The air marshals say that is a blatant lie.
"When in fact there were no gay air marshal trainers in the office at that time, there were no lesbian people in there, there were no African-Americans at the time, so obviously this was false. They never interviewed the right people," says one current air marshal.
The 10 News Investigators now know the two people who made the board were still in law enforcement. Through a letter sent to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, we learned that former Air Marshal Supervisor Matt Ryan testified in federal court that he and former supervisor Tom Feeney were the co-creators of the prejudicial game board.
Ryan resigned from the Tampa Police Department shortly after the letter was written and his LinkedIn account says he's in law enforcement in the Washington, D.C. area. Feeney is a major with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
"They're in law enforcement out there trying to protect the public, yet they're the guys that created this game to discriminate against these people," says Doropoulos.
"It's a disgrace. I think the public should be aware that you have these people in power with law enforcement. How are they going to treat the public?" says one of the unidentified air marshals.
"Both of these guys were in supervisory positions in the training division and they thought this was a funny way to attack people," says another.
"The general public ought to be concerned the largest federal racist discrimination case in the history of federal law enforcement is going on and it's being covered up," says Doropoulos.
But for these federal air marshals, the biggest coverup is the fact that the management of the agency not only discriminates and that it has a general disdain for the working marshals, but is wasting millions of dollars with an unnecessary layer of government.
"You have layers and layers of people riding desks. This is the federal air marshal service, not the federal chair marshal service. It's ridiculous. They don't do anything and since they are not on flights today, if you cut them out they don't affect the equations tomorrow," says a current air marshal.
The marshals contend the management of the agency, which is full of retired secret service agents, is endangering the flying public because the air marshals are ordered not to investigate anything suspicious on an airplane until there is an incident.
"We know if we do we likely face termination, so we don't do anything. We react at the last possible second, at the worst possible scenario. We could react late," says a current air marshal.
But the air marshals say there is a simple fix that would also save taxpayers $100 million.
"Congress should demand tonight that the federal air marshal service be placed into receivership and be administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the U.S. Marshal Service or some competent legitimate law enforcement agency," one air marshal says.
Matt Ryan returned our phone call, but said he couldn't say anything because he's suing the air marshal service due to his "involuntary separation" and remains under a federal gag order.
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