Hello [firstname],
FFDO Stakeholder Meeting
Federal Air Marshal Training Center
Atlantic CIy, NJ
Held 27 Aug 2025
The quarterly FFDO stakeholder meeting held (this time) in Atlantic City NJ and the Federal Air Marshal Training Center (FAMTC) was well attended by FFDOA leadership, including myself, Capt. Gary Cason (Director of Operations / Treasurer), Capt. Mike Karn (Exec VP – Leg Affairs), Capt Paul Nelson (Secretary), and F/O Darrick Dorn (VP – Industry Engagement).
Acting Branch Manager Daniel Kuhn represented TSA, with the meeting ending with an interactive conference call with TSA Executive Assistant Administrator Brian Belcher, Deputy Executive Assistant Administrator Matthew Kronisch, and Executive Director Kimberly Harrison.
Let me begin by addressing some very concerning news regarding initial FFDO training. On August 29, 2025, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia, New Mexico notified the TSA that FFDO Initial Training Program (ITP) classes scheduled from September through December 2025, are “canceled/postponed” until further notice. This postponement is to prioritize the training of (estimated)10,000 Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Agents and 1,000 Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Agents. All classes/courses/programs that do not directly support and accomplish immigration enforcement are included in this “postponement.” That includes FFDO ITP.
While the FFDOA membership consists of only active and retired FFDOs, it is important that we support the health and growth of our volunteer force which provides a critical layer of defense of our nation’s skies. Therefore, FFDOA will focus some resources and effort on working with our industry partner’s, such as the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) to pass through Congress important FFDO program updates and improvements, including protecting and increasing the program budget, and ensuring that our mission is not overlooked or trivialized by other priorities.
Back to the stakeholder meeting, we received an excellent briefing from Dan on the status of the program, training numbers and overall program strength. FFDOs have now covered over 23 million missions since program inception!
Despite SEVERE personnel issues since the change in government leadership this year, Dan’s team continues to support FFDO’s in the field to the best of their ability doing more with less. We expressed our disappointment and dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs with EAA Belcher, who relayed to our group that TSA as a whole is in flux at the moment, and to expect a comprehensive reorganization in the near future.
However, despite setbacks, there are some highlights:
1. The Atlanta Recurrent Training Program (RTP) site will be moving from 25% to 100% operation in the coming few months to accommodate more choices for FFDOs.
2. The initiative to move initial training to ACY (from Artesia, NM) is moving in a positive direction with a proof of concept class to be held in May of 2026 (tentative)
3. The requalification program has expanded to give FFDOs more training opportunities to work on fundamentals after the requalification event. FFDOA highly recommends that FFDOs attend this voluntary training to improve their shooting skills. Rule of thumb: when the government is offering free ammo and good training, do it!
4. We had good discussion on the eventual expansion of a west coast RTP location and feasible locations for that possibility in the future.
5. Despite manning challenges, the program continues to work on expanding international opportunities for FFDOs and is currently in discussion with over 20 countries for possible FFDO missions.
Well, in the interest of keeping these briefs (somewhat) concise, I will stop there, but rest assured, your FFDOA leadership team is active and working hard on your behalf.
INTERESTED in volunteering? Everyone at FFDOA are volunteers. Contact myself or our Director of Operations, Capt. Gary Cason to find out more. (gcason@ffdoa.org)
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT FFDOA! Our primary mode of “advertising” is simply word of mouth, so if you are so inclined and have the opportunity to communicate to your pilot group, please encourage FFDOA membership to active FFDOs which will allow us to continue to support and defend the program.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE always double and triple check your personal belongings and know where your equipment is at all times to ensure we avoid further international incidents involving FFDO issued equipment!
SEMPER VIGILANS,
Bill Cason
President
FFDOA
