Via C&L, isn't it funny how if you require law enforcement to find at least one terrorist a month, sure enough, they'll turn up at about that rate?

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.

"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal.

[...]

A second management memo, also dated July 2004, said, "There may come an occasion when you just don't see anything out of the ordinary for a month at a time, but I'm sure that if you are looking for it, you'll see something."

[...]

One example, according to air marshals, occurred on one flight leaving Las Vegas, when an unknowing passenger, most likely a tourist, was identified in an SDR for doing nothing more than taking a photo of the Las Vegas skyline as his plane rolled down the runway.

"You're saying that was not an accurate portrayal of a potential terrorist activity?" Kovaleski asked.

"No, it was not," an air marshal said.

"It was a marshal trying to meet a quota ..." Kovaleski said.

"Yes, he was," the air marshal replied.

Recently, BigD and MrsD were on a flight that cruised at a relatively low altitude between San Francisco and San Jose while making its landing approach.  We looked out the window and pointed out recognizable landmarks.  Are we on a watch list because some asshole needs that bonus to keep buying useless trinkets to appease his shrieking harpy of a wife?