Along with politically-correct passenger screening, this is the other big reason why I would not be surprised if there was another terror attack involving airliners:

For months, marshals have been trying to get the dress code rules relaxed because they say their formal dress makes them stick out, not blend in.

"You can't go out on Southwest Airlines on a weekend in a business suit," said John Amat, a spokesman for the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Association. "It just doesn't cut it."

I have heard numerous stories of passengers having no trouble identifying the Air Marshals on their flights. Federal officials defend the dress code with quotes like: "They're going to look like any other passenger, but they need to be dressed professionally."

It sounds like the same type of mindset that the 9/11 Commission demonstrated is endemic to the Federal bureaucracy. Security would be improved if these undercover agents would wear several different types of outfits in a random sequence. I suppose this is one area where the dress code trumps passenger safety. Seriously:

The issue took on renewed urgency last month, when two marshals were removed from a Southwest Airlines flight leaving Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, after a supervisor saw them improperly dressed. Their sport coats were not visible, the newspaper reported, citing law enforcement sources familiar with the incident.

The marshals were not replaced on the flight, the sources said.

Sounds like it is time to invoke the King's First Axiom of Bureaucracy: