A spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service denies allegations that officers in the agency's Las Vegas field office are required to fill a monthly quota of reports labeling particular travelers as suspicious.

"There is no Air Marshal Service policy that air marshals must do a specific number of reports," spokesman Conan Bruce said last week.

Bruce also denies allegations that people named in such reports, known as surveillance detection reports, could be placed on a watch list or wind up in databases that identify them as potential terrorists.

"No person is going to end up on a watch list based solely on a surveillance detection report," the spokesman said. "It's not going to happen."

Bruce made the comments in response to publicity surrounding claims made by federal air marshals based in Las Vegas.

In a report aired recently by Denver's KMGH-TV, Channel 7, the marshals said they are required to submit at least one surveillance detection report, or SDR, a month. If they fail to do so, they said, they are denied raises, bonuses and special assignments.