Certified Security Agents on Flights to the United States

The Spanish government approves the presence of security elements on flights between Spain and the United States.

The presence of security agents on flights within the United States, as well as others with which this country already has agreements, the so-called Sky Marshals, dates back to 1962, after President JF Kennedy created the FAA’s Peace Officers Program. The agents, two or three per flight, travel as regular passengers, and only if their intervention is necessary, do they identify themselves as such.

The United States is not the only country with these types of secret agents on board. Airlines like El Al Israel or Royal Jordanian put them on all of their flights, and governments like Austria, German, Australian, and British, to name a few, deploy them on potentially conflicting flights.

These agents’ weapons usually include pistols, tasers, knives, and personal defense sprays.

Now, the Spanish government, at its August 23 cabinet meeting, has authorized the signing with the United States of an agreement to cooperate in the deployment of security elements on flights to, from or between the two countries.

Although there is no exact date of signature, from La Moncloa, when describing it, they noted that: “This Convention is intended to be an international treaty establishing a framework for cooperation in combating crime in the field of air security”; and that “the common interest between Spain and the United States in terms of strengthening their relations of friendship and cooperation in these matters, prompted the two parties to reach a cooperation agreement.”

This agreement includes the scope of application, the respective responsibilities of the two states, operating procedures, the duty to observe the laws of the country of departure of the flight (the sending state) inside the aircraft, and its powers to direct security officers during the flight. .

Source: FlyNews.