GOP Senator Rand Paul has written to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) asking for answers as to why the agency appears to be using terrorist watch lists as a way of surveilling Americans according to their political opinions.
Paul addressed the letter to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, and cited recent revelations that former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard as well as a woman married to a federal air marshal whistleblower have both been placed on the ‘Quiet Skies’ program watch list and subjected to enhanced surveillance.
Gabbard was seemingly added to the watch list after a Fox News interview during which she criticised the ‘deep state’, while the air marshal’s wife was added after attending Donald Trump’s speech on January 6th, despite not moving to the Capitol building after it.
“Taken together, these incidents seem to be part of a broader pattern in which TSA has repurposed Quiet Skies to surveil individuals based on their political activities, even when there is no evidence of wrongdoing,” Paul wrote.
The Senator further noted that the incidents “echo concerns highlighted in a previous report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which identified critical deficiencies in TSA’s management of the Quiet Skies program.”
Hellbound and Down 