Independent journalist Matt Taibbi reported Tuesday that three Republican lawmakers were surveilled under the now-defunct TSA “Quiet Skies” program.
Documents given to the Senate Homeland Security Committee show two of the Republicans were flagged before being elected and remained on the list afterward, even though, as the committee noted, “a cursory review would have revealed them to be a member of Congress, or a decorated U.S. veteran or service member.”
The government documents redacted both the lawmakers’ names and the states they represent. Notably, Quiet Skies is the same program that was monitoring Tulsi Gabbard before becoming Director of National Intelligence.
The TSA’s program, launched in 2010, drew heavy scrutiny last year after whistleblowers revealed then-Rep. Gabbard was surveilled by Air Marshals and bomb-sniffing dogs. Documents show Gabbard was surveilled on at least eight flights in summer 2024 after being flagged as a “possible affiliate” of someone in the Terrorist Screening Database. The New York Times reported that she was added to the list after attending a Vatican event organized by a European businessman who was on the FBI’s watch list.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shut the program down in June, stating at the time: “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.”
The Senate Homeland Security Committee disclosed that TSA approved an “enhanced screening” watchlist for those suspected of traveling to Washington, D.C., in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. It targeted individuals seen as higher risk, despite no specific evidence that they entered the Capitol.
Taibbi testified before the Senate committee on Tuesday, criticizing the federal government’s controversial surveillance program:
“Before Quiet Skies was discontinued by this administration, it was a symbol of the steep decline of federal enforcement since 9/11. The government spent $200 million a year following up to 50 people a day for a program that in its history never once led to an arrest, or thwarted a single criminal act. Despite its demonstrated inutility and grave civil liberties concerns it was re-funded year after year because this is what our government does now: it gathers information on its own citizens as an end in itself.”
My Senate Testimony on Surveillance
Americans have become numb to surveillance, and eliminating Quiet Skies is hopefully just a start.https://t.co/nEnPhn0f4M pic.twitter.com/3javuXd6FE
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 30, 2025
