Politics
NEW: Dem Senator Caught Red-Handed In TSA Scandal
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday released new evidence detailing the “politicization” of the Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) watchlisting program under the Biden Administration.
Newly discovered documents, correspondence, and timelines revealed that Billy Shaheen, the husband of Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), was subjected to enhanced screening for traveling with a known or suspected terrorist.
Records show that Senator Shaheen first contacted the TSA in July 2023 after her husband was flagged for enhanced screening during two flights. In October of that year, Shaheen’s husband was given an exemption two days after the Democrat senator contacted TSA Administrator David Pekoske and asked for a blank exemption.
Later that month, Mr. Shaheen was placed on the TSA’s Secure Flight Exclusion List, which ensures certain passengers are not surveilled. He remained on the list for 18 months, until April of this year.
“After Senator Shaheen directly lobbied the former Administrator, Pekoske gave repeated, explicit direction to exclude Shaheen from the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. Pekoske granted Billy Shaheen a blanket Silent Partners Quiet Skies exemption despite Shaheen flying with a Known or Suspected Terrorist on three occasions,” DHS announced in a press release.
Senator Shaheen speaks at the Munich Security Conference in 2017
While Shaheen was requesting, and being granted, exemptions for her husband, TSA and federal air marshals were surveilling political opponents of the Biden Administration. This includes current National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who was surveilled on domestic flights by federal agents.
“These documents confirm our suspicions. Federal air marshals surveilled the now-director of national intelligence during domestic flights in 2024, reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) revealed during a hearing last month.
Last year, the director of the Air Marshal National Council, Sonya LaBosco, revealed that the agency was being tasked with surveilling anybody who traveled to Washington D.C. on or before the January 6 Capitol protests in 2021.
“We’re not doing our regular missions where we’re out there looking for the bad guys. So, right now, on most flights, you’re not gonna have Air Marshals,” LaBosco said, adding that significant resources have been spent on following “January 2021 people.”
When asked to clarify, LaBosco revealed that the agency’s “primary mission” was following people who flew into the region in January 2021. “You did not have to go to the Capitol or the rally, and you’ve been put on a specific list that TSA now has assigned Air Marshals to follow these people who have not had any type of criminal investigation, they have not committed a crime, but yet three years later, we’re following the same individuals day in and day out.”
“It is clear that this program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration — weaponized against its political foes and to benefit their well-heeled friends,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “This program should have been about the equal application of security, instead it was corrupted to be about political targeting. The Trump Administration will restore the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans, including aviation screening.”
