Giffords investigated complaints at agency’s Las Vegas office

Last year, he finally found a politician willing to get involved: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

At Sawyer’s urging, Giffords tried to get the Department of Homeland Security to release a 575-page report about the local air marshal service office, a document she believed could help restore the careers of air marshals such as Sawyer who were fired or felt pressured to leave government service.

It was not the first time that Giffords, who was wounded in a deadly shooting spree in Tucson on Jan. 8, had come forward on behalf of federal whistle-blowers.

She was one of seven members of Congress to sign a 2009 letter to President Barack Obama encouraging him to support those who “report evidence of misconduct on behalf of American taxpayers and families.”

In an e-mail to Sawyer last month, Ron Barber, Giffords’ district director, who was also injured in the Arizona shooting, said Homeland Security had not turned over the air marshal report to his office.

“I am glad you are still fighting for justice and only wish we had been successful in obtaining a copy of the investigative report,” Barber wrote.

Sawyer, a Tucson resident who was a supervisor in the Las Vegas air marshal office from 2002 to 2004, resigned under pressure after complaining about problems at the local field office. Most of the top Las Vegas officials from that time period are no longer with the agency.

Sawyer’s complaints to the inspector general included operational concerns over a strict dress code for air marshals that required business attire on even the hottest days. That policy has since been relaxed.

Sawyer now works in the private sector as a security expert.

In the weeks before the shooting, Barber met with Sawyer and his wife to discuss further ways to get the report, which has been the subject of several Freedom of Information Act requests, including one by the Review-Journal.

Contact reporter Alan Maimon at
amaimon@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0404.