Key points:
- Tulsi Gabbard was placed on the TSA’s Quiet Skies watch list after publicly criticizing then-Vice President Kamala Harris, subjecting her to invasive surveillance during domestic flights.
- A Federal Air Marshal’s wife was falsely labeled a "domestic terrorist" and monitored for over three years despite having a mobility disability and no criminal charges.
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has admitted to thousands of documents proving online speech suppression efforts, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) actively policing political discourse.
- Whistleblowers and oversight groups warn that Quiet Skies is a wasteful, unconstitutional program that has never caught a terrorist—only surveilled innocent Americans.
A chilling case of political retaliation
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic presidential candidate and outspoken critic of the Biden-Harris administration, found herself under federal scrutiny after a July 2024 Fox News interview where she questioned Kamala Harris’ leadership. Soon after, she was added to Quiet Skies, a program that allows air marshals to covertly track travelers without probable cause.
“I noticed air marshals, I noticed K-9 teams. There were things that I saw and noticed that were highly unusual,” Gabbard told Fox News. “But the deepest pain and harm and stress that’s been caused by this is that, forever going forward, I will always be looking over my shoulder, wondering if and how my government is surveilling me.”
Senator Paul confirmed that federal air marshals documented Gabbard’s appearance, electronic device usage, and movements—details far removed from any legitimate security concern. This wasn’t counter-terrorism; it was political intimidation.
The broader pattern: Targeting everyday Americans
Gabbard’s case is not isolated. A Federal Air Marshal disclosed that his wife—a woman with documented mobility disabilities—was falsely accused of unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and labeled a “domestic terrorist.” Despite her physical inability to participate in such activities and no criminal charges, she remained on a watch list for over three years. Shockingly, TSA even assigned an air marshal to monitor her on a flight—despite her husband, also a marshal, traveling with her.
This abuse mirrors findings from a DHS Inspector General report, which exposed Quiet Skies as a poorly managed program rife with civil liberties violations. Instead of stopping terrorists, it has become a tool for political surveillance.
DHS’s censorship machine exposed
The revelations don’t stop there. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that DHS, particularly through CISA, engaged in widespread online speech suppression. “We have literally found thousands of documents that have proven that they were involved in censorship and policing speech,” Noem told the Senate.
CISA, originally tasked with cybersecurity, has instead functioned as a Ministry of Truth, targeting dissenting voices under the guise of combating “misinformation.” Now, as staff reductions hit the agency, questions remain: Who authorized this overreach, and how many more Americans have been silenced?
A call to dismantle the surveillance state
Gabbard, once a supporter of surveillance programs, has reversed her stance. “This ‘Quiet Skies’ program… not a single terrorist has been caught,” she said. “Every single day, 40 or 50 federal air marshals are tasked with surveilling everyday Americans for no purpose.”
If the U.S. government can weaponize agencies like TSA and DHS against political opponents, no citizen is safe from its overreach. The Quiet Skies program must end—before more Americans find themselves unjustly targeted for daring to speak truth to power.
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