Tulsi Gabbard Labeled a “Domestic Terrorist.” Who’s Next?
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) uses two programs to identify individuals for enhanced screening during air travel, “Silent Partner” and “Quiet Skies” programs. Silent Partner is used to identify passengers for enhanced screening on international flights. Quiet Skies is a parallel program for air travel within the United States to protect Americans from domestic terrorism. Quiet Skies has its own compartmentalized watch list of suspected terrorists. Multiple news agencies have reported that Federal Air Marshal Service whistleblowers have testified that former U.S. Representative and 2016 Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is currently enrolled in the Quiet Skies program. In an article published in the Boston Globe, Jana Winter reported that some Air Marshals felt “the program has them tasked with shadowing travelers who appear to pose no real threat” and that “thousands of unsuspecting Americans have been subjected to targeted airport and in-flight surveillance, carried out by small teams of armed, undercover air marshals…” If Jana Winter’s reporting is accurate, Quiet Skies is now a clandestine operation through which Federal Air Marshals track and shadow dozens of U.S. citizens who are not under a court ordered investigation or even suspicion of any actual wrongdoing.
In a recent interview with The Hill news program, journalist Matt Taibbi provided several interesting details regarding this TSA program. He revealed that inductees in the Quiet Skies program are identified by a “Quad S,” or Secondary Security Screening Selection, marker of their boarding pass. Through this interview, Taibbi detailed how Quiet Skies is “not trying to develop cases, they are just conducting surveillance,” rather more akin to an ongoing intelligence operation than a law enforcement action. If true, the target of this shadowing operation lacks the protections one would normally have under the criminal justice system. Without those protections, the Quiet Skies program has no need to show “probable cause” for the placement of individuals on its “partially-identified terrorist” list. Why is this a dangerous precedent?
Criminal proceedings are generally “linear” in nature; it has a beginning and an end. A crime is committed, law enforcement investigates, a prosecutor charges a defendant and brings them to trail. In that trail, a judge has oversight over the prosecution, the accused has representation and the process ends then a jury delivers its verdict. If Quiet Skies has morphed into an “ongoing intelligence operation” as Mr. Taibbi suggests, its process is “circular” rather than linear. In a circular process, investigation of the “person of interest” leads to expanded information regarding that person, which in turn leads to more avenues of investigation, leading to an unending cycle of investigation and an ever expanding dossier on the target. Simply put, without the goal of prosecution, the investigation never ends. Additionally, as an added “benefit” to the agency involved in a circular process, it can avoid oversight questions by simply stating that the TSA/FBI/NSA/CIA or its agents can’t comment on an “ongoing investigation.”
Tulsi Gabbard’s situation is unique in that her popularity has brought Quiet Skies to public awareness and that her placement in the program is riddled with inconsistency. Ms. Gabbard is currently a Lieutenant Colonel the US Army Reserve. The US military has its own detailed security background check program that would undoubtedly highlight any activity or family/social contacts that would prevent her serving as an officer in the US Army Reserve. Regardless of this fact, she is now monitored by TSA and Air Marshal Service as a “partially-identified terrorist.” These two conditions, passing the military background check and placement on the TSA’s Quiet Skies list, seem to be at odds. Ms. Gabbard believes she was enrolled in the Quite Skies program after her vocal criticism of the Biden/Harris administration on social media, and FOX News. When questioned, Ms. Gabbard stated this is “… a clear act of political retaliation” for her opinions of the Biden/Harris administration which creates a “chilling effect” on any political commentary that is critical of policies of the Federal Government.
Some of these civil liberty concerns regarding the Quiet Skies program were addressed in the 2019 Homeland Security report titled “Privacy Impact Assessment Update for Secure Flight: Silent Partner and Quiet Skies,” but further oversight of this program seems justified. In an article written on August 23rd for the Daily Caller, Henry Rogers reported that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent a letter Friday to David Pekoske, the Administrator for TSA to address his concerns over the Quiet Skies program. Cromer not only inquired into the Tulsi Gabbard case, but also the placement of a Federal Sir Marshal’s wife on the Quiet Skies list as well as claims of TSA retribution against whistleblowers. Hopefully this inquiry will provide some much needed answers and oversight to a program that has seemingly gone astray from its original mission.