This article reviews the cultural dissonance resulting from a transfer of experienced leadership from one law enforcement agency to a newly formed agency with a completely different mission. The new leadership must set standards and policies for the new agency on issues such as dress code, training, and standard operating procedures, while trying to learn the new duties as it evolves. The task becomes more difficult with the inclusion of various other subcultures within the ranks of the subordinates.
             History and emergence of a new organization
             Federal Air Marshals (FAMs), previously called Sky Marshals, have been around for several decades. Prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), the original Sky Marshal program had dwindled down to fewer than 50 agents working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) based out of its headquarters in New Jersey. These agents primarily worked international flights in high-risk areas until the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which involved the use of commercial aircraft as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) within the continental United States. The United States Government Accounting Office (GAO) provided a brief history of the Air Marshal program in a document highlighting the results of a Report to Congressional Requesters.
             FAA's Federal Air Marshal program expanded the Sky Marshal program, which was established as part of the Customs Service in the 1970s to deter hijackings to and from Cuba. Shortly after TWA Flight 847 was hijacked in Athens, Greece, in June 1985, then President Ronald Reagan called for an expansion of the Sky Marshal program. On August 8, 1985, the Congress enacted the International Security and Development Cooperation Act, which established the statutory basis for the program within DOT, which further delegated the responsibility to FAA. Since then, the Federal Air Marshal program has provided specially trained, armed teams of civil aviation security speciali...