Quick Hit:

The Department of Homeland Security has terminated the controversial “Quiet Skies” program, citing political weaponization under the Biden administration and its failure to prevent terrorism. 

Key Details:

• DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called the program a "political rolodex" used to target Biden’s adversaries and benefit allies.
• Quiet Skies maintained both a watchlist and a list of exempted individuals, including foreign royals, political elites, and favored journalists.
• DHS says the program failed to stop any terror attacks and will be replaced with methods that prioritize safety and fairness.

Diving Deeper:

The Department of Homeland Security announced this week it is ending the Transportation Security Administration’s “Quiet Skies” program, a secretive security initiative originally launched in 2010. The decision follows increasing bipartisan scrutiny and internal findings that the program had become a politically charged tool under the Biden administration.

The program placed certain travelers—including U.S. citizens—under additional surveillance and screening protocols without notifying them or providing recourse. According to DHS, the initiative ballooned into a $200 million annual expense without stopping a single terrorist attack.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t hold back in her assessment. “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,” she said. “I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of U.S. national security.”

Perhaps most disturbing, DHS confirmed that the program included a special list of exemptions that shielded high-profile individuals from the same security policies applied to everyday Americans. Those given a pass reportedly included foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and favored members of the media.

The program also came under fire from civil liberties groups. Back in 2018, the ACLU accused TSA of operating a shadow surveillance operation. “While the program’s existence is now public, the TSA has kept nearly everything else about the program secret,” said Hugh Handeyside, a senior attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. He argued that TSA used “unreliable and unscientific techniques” like behavior detection to target individuals who had done nothing wrong.

Adding to the scandal, DHS cited a 2023 case involving William Shaheen, the husband of Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who was quietly removed from the watchlist after contacting a Biden-era TSA official. DHS noted he had flown three times with a known or suspected terrorist. The senator’s office claimed it was unaware of any such lists and only reached out after her husband faced unusually intense screening.