More air marshals to be flying on Sept. 11

Additional federal air marshals will be flying on U.S. airplanes Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters Thursday.

Intelligence officials do not have information about a specific plot, said Napolitano, but have collected “lots of chatter” about attacks timed to coincide with the date.

The information is not detailed enough to justify issuing a threat advisory at this time, she said. But, as a precaution, different parts of the department are “staffing up” in the coming days and will be on heightened alert over the weekend, Napolitano said.

“In the intel world there’s lots of chatter, and we are taking it all seriously,” Napolitano said.

Air marshals try to blend in with passengers on commercial flights inside the U.S. They are armed and trained in close-quarters combat, behavior recognition and marksmanship to be ready to identify and subdue a hijacker that might try to take control of an airplane.

brian.bennett@latimes.com