14 minute read
How Undercover Agents are Protecting the Skies by Tzvi Leff
Is the Person Sitting Next to You on Your Flight Really a Yeshiva Bochur?
How Undercover Agents are Protecting the Skies
BY TZVI LEFF
On September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers boarded four domestic U.S. flights departing from three airports along the East Coast. Approximately a half-hour after lift-off, the al-Qaeda terrorists rushed the cockpits, easily overpowering the respective flight crews and taking control of the aircraft.
The tragic results are well-known. The hijackers piloted two of the passenger jets into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, causing a massive explosion that eventually toppled the gleaming skyscrapers and killed 2,605 Americans. A little over an hour later, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon’s outermost ring, incinerating all passengers aboard along with another 54 soldiers.
Flight 93, the final plane still in the air, was famously brought down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers heroically decided to rush the cockpit. As the sun set on the infamous day, 2,996 Americans had perished. The world was forever changed.
Authorities tasked with investigating the deadly attack were astonished at the relative ease with which the terrorists managed to gain control over the aircraft. As highlighted in the ensuing 9/11 Commission Report, the jihadis had been armed with only boxcutters and an assortment of crude knives.
All 19 terrorists had faced little resistance commandeering the airplanes despite being relatively lightly armed. The cockpits were not hardened and the pilots were unarmed; with the exception of Flight 93, none of the hijackers had faced any resistance from either flight crew or passengers.
“We do not know exactly how the hijackers gained access to the cockpit. FAA rules required that the doors remain closed and locked during flight. Some speculated that they had ‘jammed their way’ in,” stated the 9/11 Commission Report. “Perhaps the terrorists stabbed the flight attendants to get a cockpit key, to force one of them to open the cockpit door, or to lure the captain or first officer out of the cockpit.”
Thirteen months later, an El Al flight was readying for its final descent to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport when Tawfiq Fukra rushed the cockpit. Brandishing a knife he had smuggled aboard hidden in his belt, the 23-year-old Israeli Arab screamed about the downtrodden Palestinian nation as he ran down the aisle.
But before he could make it to the first-class cabin, two undercover security guards sprang into action. Drawing the small pistols they had concealed throughout the flight, they wrestled Fukra to the ground and slapped handcuffs on him; the entire episode had taken less than 20 seconds.
Fukra later told interrogators that he had hoped to hijack the airplane. Inspired by the events on 9/11, the Islamist had hoped to fly the jet into Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Towers to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause.
But, unlike on 9/11, no one was hurt thanks to the quick-thinking actions of Israel’s elite undercover sky marshals. Commonly freshly-demobilized soldiers from IDF special forces units, these security guards train endlessly for this exact scenario: stopping an in-progress hijacking attempt and preventing terrorists from gaining control of the aircraft.
Israel’sentire air marshal program is shrouded in secrecy. Virtually nothing is known about the undercover security guards, and active members are forbidden from being photographed, from having social media accounts, and from revealing the true nature of their job to friends and family.
This unit of airborne commandos is overseen by the Shin Bet internal security agency and epitomizes the Shabak’s motto of being “The Unseen Shield.” Despite years of requests, no Israeli television program has ever been granted a behind-the-scenes look at the State Aviation Security Framework, and members both current and former are loath to interview.
Israeli sky marshals are widely viewed as the world’s most elite cadre in aviation security and graduate from the most difficult and challenging training course Israel has to offer. Their intensive training, which gives them mastery in Krav Maga, firearms and undercover work, is a key reason why only one Israeli aircraft has ever been hijacked in the
country’s 73-year-history.
“We’re the top of the top when it comes to this. When I was there, our unit trained the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, we trained the French – we’re the best of the best when it comes to air marshals,” says Jake [name has been changed], a 29-year-old who served as an undercover sky marshal for three years.
Immigrating to Israel at the age of 19, Jake joined the Shin Bet after completing his military service in the IDF’s elite Golani Brigade and today runs a martial arts school in Canada.
The decision to place undercover security guards on every flight operated by Israeli airlines came in the late 1960s. At the time, Palestinian terror organizations had turned to international terrorism in their battle against Israel, hijacking a slew of flights in places such as Athens, Thailand, and London. While these flights were Israel-bound, they were not operated by Israeli carriers.
Upon obtaining control of the planes, groups such as Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages. The hijackings would turn into a media circus, providing the Palestinians with worldwide press coverage and catapulting their cause to the world stage.
Matters came to a head in 1968 when four PFLP members forcibly commandeered El Al flight 426, en route from Rome to Tel Aviv, and diverted it to Algeria. Israel was forced to free 24 terrorists in order to ensure the safety of the hostages.
The episode left Israel’s defense leadership red-faced. Humiliated at being forced to release convicted murderers, Prime Minister Golda Meir ordered that the Shin Bet internal security service begin putting undercover agents on all Israeli aircraft.
However, the new arrangement soon began causing problems. Back then, a small and covert agency, the Shin Bet did not have enough manpower to keep putting trained intelligence officers on international flights. In order to effectively protect Israeli aircraft while ensuring that other day-to-day operations continued as planned, the Shin Bet created a special unit dedicated solely to securing jet planes.
The State Aviation Security Framework was born.
The Shin Bet has over 10 different units that deal with security, from protecting the prime minister and the head of the opposition to securing embassies and international delegations. Yet no one else is as well trained as Israel’s sky marshals.
The course that the sky marshals must undergo is the longest and most demanding the Shin Bet has to offer; the grueling four-month regimen includes hand-to-hand combat, operating various types of firearms, and the art of going undercover.
Israel’s sky-marshal training course takes place in a classified facility in the center of the country. There, aspiring marshals are taught the ins and outs of aviation security, practicing from morning until night, six days a week, on a full-size passenger aircraft designated for this purpose.
Trainees are monitored closely by a team of instructors and psychologists, who put them through frequent tests. No one is placed on an aircraft before passing the final exam, which includes hand-to-hand combat, simulated hijackings and shooting so intense that trainee marshals find it difficult to sleep in the days leading up to it.
Special focus is spent on mastering Krav Maga, Israel’s homegrown self-defense and fighting system that is renowned for its aggressiveness and brutality. Often, wouldbe operators are forced to drop out after suffering broken limbs during a punishing training session.
The relentless training regimen is designed for one goal: teaching sky marshals to intervene and prevent a hijacking in progress. Every second is crucial; hesitation can make the difference between an international incident that would see thousands of terrorists freed and safely landing the airplane without anyone hurt.
Even beginning the course means passing an intensive recruitment process lasting the better part of a year, followed by successfully obtaining a high-level security clearance. Military service in a tier-1 commando unit does not guarantee graduation.
“Whatever you learn in the military is kind of irrelevant. The skills you learn in the army won’t help you,” asserts Jake. “We had guys from the Shayetet 13 [naval commandos similar to NAVY Seals] who knew how to shoot underwater. But it isn’t relevant; in this course, everyone starts from zero.
“We had four people who got cut,” he adds. “One was an officer in the Yahalom engineering special forces unit, another was in Duvdevan [a counterterror unit], and the third was in 669 [a special forces search and rescue unit].”
A key reason for the intensive training is due to the fact that sky marshals must overcome unique challenges other security guards aren’t made to deal with. The cramped aircraft demands that operators master the art of accurate and effective close quarter shooting.
Not only will unarmed civilians stand between a marshal and a hijacker, one stray bullet could shatter the fuselage and cause the plane to crash. Then there’s the question of manpower; where a prime minister is surrounded by dozens of security guards and police officers, an air marshal seeking to take down a terrorist may be the lone person responsible for the lives of all those aboard.
“Anything happens anywhere else, 20 people have your back. That isn’t the case here,” says Jake. “Terrorists can also use anything as a weapon, such as the serving tray for the food, there’s the forks, there’s the knives. Fighting a guy in between two seats with 300 people on board is something that no other unit has to deal with.
“Most of the time you’re overseas, so you need to learn how to deal with international politics and bureaucracy,” Jake notes. “Don’t forget – in the prime minister’s personal security detail, you’re with an entire staff, be it 12 people or 24 people. Yet when you’re on a flight, you’re only a few guys.”
While many countries place undercover security guards on flights, Israel’s program is different. Unlike their overseas counterparts, Israeli sky marshals do not work for the airline but are employed directly by the Shin Bet. On consecutive days, operators can just as easily find themselves on an El Al or Israir flight, two major Israeli airlines that are direct competitors.
Israel is also unique in that it mandates armed security on every single flight, whether it be filled with Israeli Arab passengers heading to Turkey or Breslov chassidim on their way to Uman.
“The Americans and the Canadians do not put people on every single flight. Israel is the only one that does that. Incoming or outgoing, there are zero exceptions,” Jake shares.
While in the U.S. “about 15 percent” of flights have air marshals onboard, “in Israel, it’s 100%,” he adds. “You will never be on a flight that does not have a marshal.
“I personally worked a flight…in which literally everyone was yeshiva students and children. It doesn’t matter – someone always needs to be on the plane.”
Air marshals are commonly freshly-demobilized soldiers, usually officers and those who served in the IDF’s most elite special forces units. For them, working 4-5 flights a week is a chance to see the world while saving up money for college.
“You fly almost every single day. During the three years I was there, I visited 24 countries and that isn’t counting the ‘turnarounds’ where you stay for a few hours and fly back,” relates Jake.
Working as a sky marshal is not for everyone. Operators must have the ability to go undercover, effectively melting into the crowd in order to appear as an ordinary passenger.
A major advantage air marshals have over a potential hijacker is their deep familiarity with the aircraft. Knowing the plane inside and out increases a security guard’s chances of taking down a terrorist during a confrontation. The average flight is filled with items that an adversary can exploit as a weapon, from the axes used to break windows in the event of a crash to pitchers filled with boiling water in the galley.
As such, sky marshals need to be capable of spending an entire flight on high alert, ready to spring into action should at the first sign of anything suspicious. They are forbidden from watching movies, reading, listening to music, or anything else that would alleviate the boredom during the long hours in the air.
Every marshal develops his own methods to pass the time while remaining watchful of everything that is going on. Jake says that he would begin conversations with as many travelers as possible throughout the flight as a means to remain vigilant.
“I met so many interesting people there,” Jake recounts. “When you’re sitting on the plane and starting to fall asleep or get tired, you talk to the guy next to you. And then when he gets tired, you go talk to the other guy. You just talk to people and drink coffee.
“The first flight is hard,” he admits. “But after three years, you get used to it.”
This is not the kind of work for someone seeking an ordinary 9-5 job. There is no such thing as a manpower shortage; every airplane must take off on time, and every Israeli flight must have armed security on board.
As a result, operators must always be ready to work at a moment’s notice, frequently being summoned from vacation and family events to the airport.
“You’re a slave. You work non-stop,” says Jake. “I can be sitting at home at 2 AM with my wife, and they’ll call me saying, ‘Listen, we need you to show up.’”
As difficult as the lifestyle may be, the perks of the job often outweigh the challenges.
“It’s great because your wife flies for free, your kids fly for free,” Jake shares. “My wife and I went to Paris, we went to Ukraine, we went to India.... If you know the flight attendants, then you’ll be bumped up to business class.”
The next time you’re on a flight to or from Israel, take a look around. The bored yeshiva student sitting next to you may be just that, someone visiting his family in the U.S. after a year studying abroad. But he may also be a highly trained undercover air marshal, armed and waiting to jump at the first hint of trouble.
“I was never recognized even once,” says Jake when asked if his cover was ever blown mid-flight. “We’re very professional. It’s almost impossible to ever know who we are.”
