This actually a very good question with many additional points of thought and please no worry, you have not violated any protocol and in fact these are the kinds of questions our members should be asking or be thinking about. And yes, I'm still in charge. While I knew right away what my answer would be, i hope you haven't minded allowing other members to chime in. And for me, it was great that I did for one of the quotes by another member very much reflects my thoughts - though i have to admit, he says it for more eloquently than I.

So, if you don't mind, I'll let the comments of Cholula totally reflect my personal thoughts on this:
"Originally posted by Cholula:
The answer to this is quite simple and it's no, we don't know the identity of anybody who posts here.

And that includes folks who claim to be TSA, LEO's, FAM's, lawyers, salesmen, whatever. We can't even tell males from females.

You've got to pretty much do as I and others do and judge folks by what they say and not who/what they say they are.

There's nothing to stop someone, on FT or elsewhere on the Internet, to say they are X when actually they're Y. So it's up to us as individuals to judge our fellow posters by whatever internal criteria we choose.

I think that after several years of posting on IBB's that I've become a fairly good judge of (virtual) character. And I suppose many of you are too. A few people will pull the wool over my eyes but, over time, I can usually spot folks who aren't exactly who they claim to be.

Now, do we need a system to identify that everybody who posts here is who s/he says they are?? I think the answer is no because it's an invasion of privacy that few would accept as a requirement for posting here."

NOW, as for some additional thoughts. I have a few additional comments that reflect on the manner in which some of our members "judge our fellow posters ..." You mention Federal Air Marshall and TSA employees. It is likely that some of our members will assume that these members could not possibly be who they say they are and use any number of embarrassing methods to try and discredit them. I'm am sure it is not a good idea for any member to provoke others in these forums with this purpose in mind. As is echoed among the many posts on this thread, I'm in the camp that they can be whoever they say they are and the validity of that claim will certainly be proved or disproved over time based upon their behavior, replies and general knowledge of the topics for which they post. At the end of the day, it's not title, post count or user name that will determine who you are on FlyerTalk - just the value of your last post.

Again, thanks for the question and with my reply (with a BIG thanks to Cholula), I hope this gives you a little insight to where I come from on this issue.