Hello [firstname],
FFDOA UPDATE
FFDO Stakeholder Meeting 3/12/2025
The FFDO quarterly stakeholder meeting, held in Washington DC, was well attended by FFDOA leadership.
The program leadership was present as well and began by informing the stakeholders of the robust response to the passing of active FFDO Captain Jonathan Campos, who died while on-duty aboard AA Flight 5432.
This included:
• In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the Aviation Programs Branch (APB) notified the Director of LE-FAMS, TSA Chief Counsel (FAMS), TSA Public Affairs (FAMS), TSA Legislative Affairs (FAMS), the American Airlines Stakeholder, APA Stakeholder, ALPA National Security Chairman Stakeholder, and the President of FFDOA.
• January 20, 2025 - The APB authored and posted an FFDO Dashboard Message, In Memoriam.
• January 30, 2025 - The APB posted an In Memoriam message on the APB SharePoint Site (Internal).
• January 30, 2025 - The APB authored and submitted an In Memoriam message to be posted on the FAMS Homepage (Internal), TSA SharePoint Site (Internal), and DHS SharePoint Site (Internal).
• January 30, 2025 (submitted) / February 11, 2025 (posted) - The APB authored and submitted a TSA Press Release to be published by TSA Public Affairs/Strategic Communication.
• February 3, 2025 - The APB coordinated with the Badging and Credentialing Unit and permanently retired FFDO Campos’ Badge and Credential number.
• February 10, 2025 - The APB Branch Manager, Deputy Branch Manager and an APB SFAM traveled to New York City to attend the viewing and represent the program and all FFDOs. The APB presented Captain Campos’ family with two personalized letters from the FAMS Director, two Service Recognition Awards, one FAMS/FFDO Plaque, and one official memorial FFDO badge/credential set.
• The APB coordinated to have a New York FAMS Field Office VIPR Team attend the visitation, as well as the funeral.
• February 11, 2025 - The APB BM, DBM, and SFAM attended the funeral and burial of Captain Campos. The APB presented FFDO Campos’ mother with a folded 5x8 American Flag that was flown over DHS HQ (with certificate that proclaims the flag was flown in honor of FFDO Campos). The APB also presented FFDO Campos’ significant other with a folded 5x8 American Flag that was flown over TSA HQ (with certificate that proclaims the flag was flown in honor of FFDO Campos).
• The APB contacted and coordinated with the TSA Historian and TSA Public Affairs for an FFDO Campos submission into the TSA HQ Mission Hall exhibit.
• The APB completed and submitted a nomination for FFDO Campos to be included on the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial. The FAMS Director approved and signed as head of agency (required for submission): Awaiting determination.
• The APB formally changed the name of the Senior FFDO Training Program Course of Fire, from “Need for Speed,” to “The Ghost.” Ghost was FFDO Campos’ Check name.• The APB completed and submitted a nomination for FFDO Campos to the “Officer Down Memorial Page” (ODMP). This submission was not accepted by the owner of the website.
• February 25, 2025 – The FBI reported that FFDO Campos’ badge and credentials were recovered from the Anacostia River. The APB is coordinating the return of FFDO Campos’ Badge and Credential.• February 28, 2025 – FFDO Campos’ duty firearm was hand carried to the TSA National Armory in Atlantic City, NJ.
• March 4, 2025 – The TSA National Armory completed their work to remove FFDO Campos’ duty firearm from service and render it permanently inoperable. The firearm was hand carried back to TSA HQ on March 6, 2025, by the FAMS HQ Tactical Training Unit.
• FFDO Campos’ Badge, Credential, and retired Duty Firearm will be put on display to honor his life, service, and dedication to the U.S. Government, aviation security, and the traveling public.
Also, FFDOA published an "End of Watch" message to honor Capt. Campos for his service, dedication and volunteerism.
Overall, as with many federal agencies, the FFDO program is experiencing the pains of a government / party election-transition. The TSA Administrator was dismissed and the FFDO budget / personnel are under intense scrutiny, as well as ANY spending by the program office.
Of course, our response is that there is no more efficient program in government (in our eyes) than the FFDO program, however, FFDO is still part of a larger organization which is having to (essentially) justify each and every dollar spent. So, while the program is currently still moving forward with training and operations under the current budget resolution, we are standing by to see how FFDO will fare in this unfamiliar environment. More to come on this!
Some very impressive numbers from the program office on the FFDO program's contribution to transportation security, including over 1 million volunteer missions flown in FY 2024. This included hundreds of international missions.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, 95% of all TSA in-flight security missions were completed by FFDOs.
As of February 2025, the FFDO program has surpassed 23 million flights covered since inception.
As President of FFDOA I would like to personally thank every FFDO for these amazing numbers! Job well done!
For those that qualify, we are being told that the Senior FFDO program is starting to have space available now, so I highly encourage attendance if able. I was in the first Senior class and highly recommend it! It is outstanding training.
Lastly, due to too many instances of non-compliance, especially in the international arena, the program has announced an "introduction and inspection plan". Program leadership will be stationed at select airports to meet and greet incoming FFDOs, as well as to perform an inspection of their equipment and confirm that they have properly logged their flight(s) into the dashboard. Please ensure you follow the SOP at all times!
That's it for now!
Semper Vigilans!
Bill Cason
President
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