Politics
Americans Deserve Answers on Quiet Skies Surveillance
The White House is ending the unconstitutional program. Now, the public deserves to know why it ever existed.
(Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the end of the Transportation Security Agency’s Quiet Skies surveillance program. This is another critical action taken by President Donald Trump and his administration to reverse the last administration’s weaponization of the federal government against the American people.
I applaud their efforts—because it never should have existed in the first place.
Quiet Skies was an unconstitutional dystopian nightmare masquerading as a security tool costing the American taxpayers $200 million a year. And what did we get for it? According to DHS, the Quiet Skies program failed to stop a single terrorist attack since it was created. Instead, taxpayers are footing the bill for a surveillance program that turned its watchful eye inward—targeting Americans who had committed no crimes, violated no laws, and in many cases were government officials themselves.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at the facts my office uncovered through its investigation into the Quiet Skies program. According to Department of Homeland Security documents I obtained, former Congresswoman and now Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was surveilled under the program while flying domestically in 2024. Federal Air Marshals were assigned to monitor Gabbard and report back on their observations including her appearance, whether she used electronics, and whether she seemed “abnormally aware” of her surroundings. She wasn’t suspected of terrorism. She wasn’t flagged by law enforcement. Her only crime was being a vocal critic of the administration. What an insanely invasive program—the gall of Big Brother actually spying on a former congresswoman. It’s an outrageous abuse of power.
According to reports, an Air Marshal was assigned to a commercial airline pilot actively flying a plane with passengers and was told to continue the mission even after raising concerns to his Incident Coordination Section. Another Air Marshal reported that his team was assigned to surveil a Department of Homeland Security Enforcement and Removal Operation during a commercial flight while the officer was deporting an illegal alien. It was the officer that triggered the Quiet Skies list, not the individual being deported.
And perhaps the most absurd of all, the wife of a Federal Air Marshal was labeled a “domestic terrorist” after attending a political rally. She had a documented disability and no criminal record. Still, she was placed under Special Mission Coverage and tracked on commercial flights—even when accompanied by her husband, who is himself a trained federal law enforcement officer. She remained on the watchlist for more than three years. To make matters worse, this case resulted in the diversion of an Air Marshal from a high-risk international mission.
This is not how a free society operates. This is not “security.” This is abuse.
And yet for years, the government stonewalled congressional oversight into the Quiet Skies Program. Under the previous administration, I sent letter after letter requesting answers and records. I was ignored.
I commend Secretary Noem for abolishing the Quiet Skies program. But ending the program alone isn’t enough. The American people deserve answers. They deserve transparency. And they deserve accountability.
Who approved surveillance on Tulsi Gabbard? Who else in government was surveilled? Were other members of Congress, administration officials, or political opponents targeted because of constitutionally protected speech? Were federal law enforcement resources diverted from high-risk international threats just to monitor people attending political rallies?
I’ve demanded the names of the officials involved. I’ve asked for every unredacted record, every standard operating procedure, and every internal communication that guided this program.
If this program was weaponized against political dissent, the American people must know.
I am hopeful that Secretary Noem will cooperate fully with my ongoing investigation into the Quiet Skies program and quickly produce all of the records I’ve requested. There is no excuse for further delay. The American people deserve to understand the full extent of the abuses that occurred under the now-defunct Quiet Skies program people.
This is about much more than the Transportation Security Administration or air travel. It’s about the fundamental relationship between the citizen and the state. Are Americans free to move, speak, associate, and protest without being tracked, followed, and reported on by their own government?
We were told post-9/11 surveillance programs were necessary to protect us from foreign threats. But when those tools are repurposed and weaponized to target American citizens on domestic flights—when whistleblowers are retaliated against, and oversight is obstructed—then the system is no longer about protection. It’s about control.
I will keep pressing until every question is answered. I will demand that no similar program takes its place under a different name. I will not stop until the American people get the full story and can rest assured that this weaponization will not happen again.
Liberty and security are not mutually exclusive. When government hides behind secrecy to justify surveillance of its own people, it has gone too far.
We can—and must—do better!
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