After the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 incident on December 26, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano increased the number of U.S. air marshals to strengthen the security for air travel.
The Nigerian suspect, who is said to had been acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda, burnt his leg to ignite explosives on the jet but failed on his mission. The said airliner arriving in the US city of Detroit from Amsterdam in the Netherlands had 278 passengers and 11 crew aboard.
The U.S. marshals have been increased by cutting vacation leave. Napolitano said that the marshals were assigned randomly in different flights. It was not further discuss who are the additional marshals who will take part of this Christmas season assignment.
Topics: Al-Qaeda, bombing, Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, news, terrorist, U.S. Marshals, US
