The following was a statement sent out by Wayne Allard's office following 7NEWS' investigation about the Federal Air Marshal Service.

For Release:
July 24, 2006

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) has been briefed by Federal Air Marshal Service officials to discuss the status of the initial phase of a formal investigation he requested of the Denver field office regarding allegations raised by KMGH-TV Channel 7 in Denver.

Senator Allard requested the investigation on June 6 in a letter to FAMS Director Dana Brown.

"I am pleased that the first phase of the investigation yielded 16 recommendations for FAMS headquarters to consider in addition to any future recommendations from the Transportation Security Administration that may be developed in the forthcoming full field office inspection," Allard said.

The first phase of the Denver field office investigation was a fact finding-management review from FAMS, which took place in early June. The second phase is a formal, full field office inspection that originally was scheduled to begin in September, but at Allard’s request, was moved up to begin on July 17. During this phase of the investigation, all Denver federal air marshals will be invited to be interviewed by the TSA inspector team.

"I look forward to reviewing the full field office inspection in September," said Allard. "The current 16 recommendations forwarded to me by the Federal Air Marshal Service is a good start, but I believe the second phase of this review will produce additional recommendations to address the issues and concerns raised by KMGH-TV’s investigative report on the Denver field office."