Dressing for Success

The Federal Air Marshal Service has had a stupid regulation that required its officers to dress in a more formal manner than most of the air passengers they were flying with. Consequently, they tended to stand out and anyone with evil plans in mind would pretty much know who they'd have to take out first in order to be successful. That dumb policy is finally changing (h/t Captain Ed):

Dana A. Brown, director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, said in a memo to air marshals that the dress code revisions will take effect Sept. 1 and replace a policy that some air marshals criticized for being so strict that they stood out on some flights.

Brown told air marshals in the memo that the policy was being amended to "allow you to dress at your discretion." He added that the new policy was designed to let air marshals blend in while concealing their weapons. ...

The previous dress code generally required air marshals to wear collared shirts, sport coats and dress shoes. The service loosened some of the restrictions a year ago, officials said.

I'm sure the problem was especially acute on what are traditionally vacation routes where most of the passengers are dressed very casually. I'm glad they're fixing this. I'd prefer not to have my air marshal's so easily identifiable. Let's just make it a surprise for the bad guys.