DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended the Quiet Skies program for failing to stop any terrorist attacks and costing taxpayers $200 million annually.
The Biden administration used the Transportation Security Agency to target Tulsi Gabbard, several Republican lawmakers, and hundreds of January 6 defendants, a Senate investigation found.
The TSA surveilled Gabbard under its Quiet Skies program, the Senate Homeland Security and Governance Committee confirmed after a whistleblower came forward with the allegation last year. Gabbard was first added to the program a day after she criticized then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Senate report shows.
Internal documents make clear that Federal Air Marshals were aware that Gabbard was a former member of Congress when she was placed in the program, as the internal file on Gabbard included her official congressional portrait and described her as “Former congresswoman from HI.”
Additionally, the TSA put three Republican lawmakers on its Silent Partner watchlist, another agency surveillance program, and placed hundreds of January 6 Capitol riot defendants on a TSA watchlist, the Senate investigation found. Silent Partner identifies passengers for enhanced screenings on U.S.-bound international flights. Quiet Skies, a similar program, identifies passengers on domestic flights and outbound international flights for further screening, according to a 2019 Department of Homeland Security assessment.
The Republican lawmakers, whose names were redacted in the report, were either sitting members of Congress or running for office at the time they were flagged. All three are currently serving in Congress.
The lawmakers may have been added to the list because they traveled to regions with high levels of terrorist activity but, as the report notes, “a cursory review would have revealed them to be a member of Congress, or a decorated U.S. military veteran or service member.”
The January 6 defendants were put on a different TSA watchlist after the Capitol riot, with many of them targeted despite a lack of specific evidence they committed criminal acts during the riot. From January to March 2021, at least 234 subjects were added to the TSA watchlist and were, as a result, either denied boarding or subjected to enhanced screening, the TSA said in an internal memo. TSA conducted research on the January 6 defendants through a DHS-funded extremism program at George Washington University that meticulously tracked every suspected Capitol rioter.
Under Biden, the TSA also put twelve individuals on a watchlist for removing their masks on an aircraft in April 2022 to protest Covid-19 mandates, the report indicates.
Another case of TSA abuse spotlighted in the Senate report involved a Federal Air Marshal’s wife who was labeled a domestic terrorist for supposedly entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6, although there was no evidence she did. The woman was surveilled by Federal Air Marshals for two years until she was removed from the FBI’s terrorism screening database after it became clear that she had been mistaken for someone else.
Libertarian Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.), chairman of the Senate committee, held a hearing about the Quiet Skies program Tuesday upon the release of the report. Witnesses at Paul’s hearing included journalist Matt Taibbi, TSA whistleblower Mark Crowder, and whistleblower attorney Tristan Leavitt.
Paul lambasted the TSA’s “unconstitutional” surveillance activities and called for full transparency to ensure similar government malfeasance does not take place in the future.
“TSA deemed hundreds of Americans as threats to national security simply for holding opposing political views. The federal government used its investigative authorities, anonymous tips, and university research institutions to build a flimsy case to put them on the watch list” Paul said.
Senator Gary Peters (D., Mich.), ranking member of the subcommittee, criticized the federal government’s screening process for unfairly targeting Muslims in his state and elsewhere. He also tried to shift attention to the Trump administration’s actions, a separate topic from the committee’s hearing.
Crowder, the TSA whistleblower, was the federal air marshal whose wife was surveilled by the TSA. He described the TSA’s surveillance of his wife and himself as a member of her family. His wife Christine simply attended Trump’s rally on January 6 and returned to her hotel, without getting near the Capitol.
“The events I’ve described are betrayal of American values. The weaponization of federal law enforcement to harass and intimidate citizens exercising their constitutional rights is unconscionable,” Crowder said.
In January, the New York Times reported that Gabbard was targeted because of a trip she took to the Vatican organized by European businessman on an FBI watchlist. Gabbard did not know the man was on an FBI watchlist and did not commit wrongdoing in attending a conference at the Vatican. Former senior Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney invited Gabbard to the conference, but the TSA did not put Mulvaney on the Quiet Skies program afterwards. Leavitt pointed out the discrepancy between the TSA’s treatment of Gabbard and Mulvaney, suggesting the government’s accounting of events did not add up.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended Quiet Skies in June for failing to stop any terrorist attacks and costing taxpayers $200 million annually. Noem said TSA would maintain its aviation and vetting responsibilities without using “weaponized” surveillance programs.
“It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends,” Noem said in June.
“TSA’s critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans.”
DHS and TSA announced Tuesday the results of its own internal investigation into the TSA’s activities. It largely corresponded with the Senate report’s findings on TSA’s surveillance of the January 6 defendants. DHS previously investigated the use of Quiet Skies against Gabbard and determined the TSA conducted unwarranted surveillance on her.
Noem referred TSA’s conduct during the Biden administration to Congress and the Justice Department for further investigation. She also announced her decision to fire five senior officials involved with TSA’s behavior and changes to internal processes to enhance agency oversight.
Gabbard is now serving as the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence after spending eight years in Congress representing Hawaii as a Democrat. She is a longtime critic of mass surveillance and U.S. intelligence agencies.