Latest news with #QuietSkies
The Herald Scotland
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Lawyer says she's no terrorist as DHS accuses Sen. Shaheen's husband
DHS accused Shaheen's lawyer husband, William "Billy" Shaheen, of having traveled with a "known or suspected terrorist" -- and said the senator had used her influence to have him removed from a TSA watchlist. Shaheen denied getting her husband removed from a watch list, as Atallah, a close family friend blasted DHS for trying to "score political points by smearing innocent people." "Let me be crystal clear: I am a U.S. citizen, a licensed attorney, a law-abiding American, and Billy Shaheen's legal co-counsel," Atallah told Seacoastonline, part of the USA TODAY Network, adding she had been pulled out of airport lines more than 40 times for invasive searches. Atallah came forward after DHS said Shaheen's husband had been accompanied on flights by a suspected terrorist. "New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen's Husband Traveled with a Known or Suspected Terrorist Three Times in a Single Year," a June 4 DHS4 press release alleged. "I am the individual DHS referred to in its recent public release, the so-called 'known or suspected terrorist' who traveled with Attorney William 'Billy' Shaheen," Atallah said in a statement. "I have no criminal record and have dedicated my career to fighting for immigrants' rights here at home, and to representing, pro bono, Americans who were wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, out of a deep belief in justice and service," Atallah said. "In fact, I also worked closely with the Trump administration during its first term to help bring unlawfully detained U.S. citizens home." The DHS press release cites specific flights in which Bill Shaheen was a "Co-Traveler with a Known or Suspected Terrorist." Atallah said she was on those flights. Kristi Noem says Biden 'weaponized' watchlist DHS asserts that the TSA watch list program, "Silent Partners Quiet Skies," was politicized by the Biden administration, leading to the harassment of political opponents like Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman and President Donald Trump's current director of National Intelligence - while letting political allies like the Shaheens off the hook. The Biden administration "weaponized" the program "against its political foes and to benefit their well-heeled friends," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in the press release. DHS announced June 5 it was ending the Quiet Skies Program, saying it had "failed to stop a single terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers $200 million a year." Atallah doesn't disagree the Quiet Skies program was broken. "I had no idea I was ever on a TSA Quiet Skies watchlist until I read DHS's public statement," Atallah wrote. "I knew I was being subjected to humiliating searches -- frisked, pulled aside, questioned -- more than 40 times, and NOT ONCE did they find anything illegal, inappropriate or incriminating on me." Atallah said she asked Sen. Shaheen's office for help, "not to intervene but simply to understand why this was happening to me and who was behind it." "I have done nothing wrong and I am not worried - they can find anything on me if they try," she said. The Department of Homeland Security declined to say why Atallah was flagged as a possible terrorist. "We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence, and we aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting Atallah "chose to reveal herself of her own volition." Atallah filed a Freedom of Information Act request over the airport searches. In June 2023, DHS told Atallah it could "neither confirm nor deny any information about you which may be contained within federal watchlists or reveal any law enforcement sensitive information." DHS suggested, but didn't confirm, it may have made " may assist in avoiding incidents of misidentification." As a well-known immigration lawyer, Atallah said she has been working to arrange the return of Palestinian-Americans trapped in Gaza. "I have already helped individuals and families, including a prominent Massachusetts family," she said. "I have helped them get home; that's what I do and I am very passionate about it." Choir girl turned lawyer Atallah said she has known Jeanne and Bill Shaheen since she was 16, "when I was a choir girl at St. George Church in Dover, New Hampshire, a church that Billy's mother helped build." "It is both baffling and disgraceful to see this administration suggest that Bill Shaheen was 'traveling with a terrorist,'" Atallah wrote, "when, in fact, he was traveling with me: a fellow attorney and American citizen. This isn't just false, it's a deliberate and dangerous distortion, designed to score political points by smearing innocent people." Sen. Shaheen recently announced she will not seek re-election in 2026. U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., is the Democratic frontrunner for her seat, and the Shaheens' daughter, Stefany Shaheen, of Portsmouth, recently announced her bid for Pappas' seat. "The whole situation is ludicrous," said Bill Shaheen. "I did not know I was on a list, or why I was on a list but I guess I know now. The first time I was searched, I was told it was 'random' when I asked why. After a few times, you get suspicious, and they will not tell you why you are on the list. That's un-American." Shaheen said the searches are invasive. "They take your belt; they feel up your crotch," he said. "They don't even bother to ask you on a date. Then they 'walk' you to the gate." Shaheen said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, his wife, never asked anyone to take him off any list. He only wanted to know why he was being searched and who was responsible. "If you are going to take away someone's rights, you better be ready to justify it, better be able to prove the facts," he said. Bill Shaheen said he has known Atallah since she was a little girl. "She has a very big heart and she wants to help people, wherever she can," he said. "She said, as a girl, she wanted to be a lawyer. I offered guidance to help her along the way. I cannot and will not ever believe she is a terrorist." 'Invasive and degrading' Shaheen's office said she contacted TSA "after her husband was subjected to several extensive, invasive and degrading searches at airport checkpoints." "Any suggestion that the Senator's husband was supposedly included on a Quiet Skies list is news to her and had never been raised before yesterday," the office said in a statement. "Nor was she aware of any action taken following her call to remove him from such a list." The senator's office noted Bill Shaheen had been stopped and searched at least five times, despite the fact that he is a former judge who also served as U.S. attorney for New Hampshire. Bill Shaheen is a respected Lebanese-American attorney, the senator's office said, who is active in the Arab-American community. What was TSA's Quiet Skies program? The Transportation Security Administration, which federalized airport security after the terrorist hijackings Sept. 11, 2001, created the "Quiet Skies" program in 2010 to provide additional screening for suspicious travelers. TSA has said individuals identified for additional screening aren't necessarily "known or suspected terrorists." Travelers are chosen for the list are based on aggregated travel data, intelligence and suspicious activity. TSA doesn't release how many people are on the list for security reasons. But press reports said 1.2 million people, including 4,600 U.S. citizens, were on the Terrorist Screening Database in 2017. Civil liberties groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have filed lawsuits on behalf of people who disputed their inclusion on the "Quiet Skies" list. But TSA officials have defended the program as "very effective" at providing security and protecting the privacy of travelers. Atallah said she chose to speak out to clear her name and the names of the Shaheens. "They used my story not to bring about accountability or reform, but to wage a partisan smear campaign," she said. "They twisted facts, spread falsehoods, and used the official platform of DHS to paint me, a U.S. citizen and attorney, as a 'terrorist' for political gain." Contributing: Bart Jansen, Josh Meyer - USA TODAY
The Herald Scotland
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
DHS ends controversial Quiet Skies passenger surveillance program
"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," Noem said in a statement on June 5. "I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security." Noem said the Transportation Security Administration will maintain its critical aviation and security vetting functions, and the Trump Administration will return TSA "to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public." "This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans," Noem said. Quiet Skies was revealed in 2018 by The Boston Globe, which said the program deployed air marshals, who fly armed and undercover to thwart terrorists, to track dozens of suspicious travelers daily. Lawmakers and civil rights groups have long criticized the program for potentially masking racial or religious discrimination in deciding who to focus on. Part of identifying suspicious travelers relies on noticing behaviors such as fidgeting or having a penetrating stare, which government watchdogs and some lawmakers have criticized in the past as an unreliable basis for probable cause. After the Globe report, David Pekoske, who was then TSA Administrator, told USA TODAY's editorial board that Quiet Skies has been in place for years and was a valuable piece of the air marshals' portfolio. This May, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, exposed that the TSA tracked Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, during the 2024 election for unspecified reasons that Republicans have said were purely political. DHS issued a statement on June 4 alleging that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, improperly contacted TSA to complain that her husband, William "Billy" Shaheen, was being subjected to enhanced screening. DHS accused Shaheen's lawyer husband, William "Billy" Shaheen, of having traveled with a "known or suspected terrorist" - and said the senator had used her influence to have him removed from a TSA watchlist. But according to a USA Today Network report on June 5, William Shaheen was flagged for the program because he had traveled several times with a New England lawyer who said TSA had inaccurately and unfairly marked her as a possible terrorist. Immigration attorney Celine Atallah shared with USA TODAY Network in an exclusive account that she was the unnamed suspicious "co-traveler" mentioned in a June 4 DHS press release attacking the senator - and that she is "a U.S. citizen, a licensed attorney, a law-abiding American, and Billy Shaheen's legal co-counsel." Shaheen denied getting her husband removed from a watch list, as Atallah, a close family friend, blasted DHS for trying to "score political points by smearing innocent people."
New York Post
14 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump administration shuts down ‘Quiet Skies' traveler surveillance program: ‘Used to target political opponents'
A counterterrorism program used to keep tabs on US citizens in airports and on planes around the world has been shut down by the Trump administration over concerns that it had become 'weaponized' under the Biden administration. The program, known as Quiet Skies, was run by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and allowed federal air marshals to follow American travelers on domestic and international flights, but it 'failed to stop a SINGLE terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers roughly $200 million a year,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday as she announced its termination. '[The Department of Homeland Security] and TSA have uncovered documents, correspondence, and timelines that clearly highlight the inconsistent application of Quiet Skies,' Noem wrote on X. 'The program, under the guise of 'national security,' was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies of the Biden Administration.' Advertisement 4 Noem announced the end of the Quiet Skies program in a video message posted on X Thursday. Secretary Kristi Noem/X 'In addition to conducting our own internal investigation, I am calling for a full and thorough Congressional investigation to uncover further corruption through this program.' Quiet Skies allowed federal authorities to surveil Americans who had come into contact with known or suspected terrorists – even if they were not themselves on a watch list or suspected of a crime. Advertisement DHS cited several examples of what it believes were instances in which the program was politicized. Despite traveling with a 'known or suspected terrorist three times,' William Shaheen, the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), was given 'blanket exemptions' from being put on surveillance by former President Joe Biden's TSA Administrator David Pekoske, DHS discovered. 4 Quiet Skies was launched during the Obama administration as a counterterrorism program. REUTERS In contrast, 'non-politically aligned members,' including former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman and current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, were ensnared in the program. Advertisement 'Gabbard, and many other Americans, were placed on the Silent Partners' Quiet Skies list with little to no visibility, awareness, explanation, or oversight,' DHS said in a statement. 4 The program costs taxpayers $200 million per year, according to Noem. AP Gabbard told Fox News host Laura Ingraham last month that she believes her placement on the watchlist was 'politically motivated,' and the result of critical comments she made about then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 'I think they were trying to intimidate me, but also, they were trying to really create this chilling effect, probably knowing that I wouldn't stay silent about it and send a message out to people that if you go and criticize then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now going to be the Democratic nominee for president, you too, would face the consequences,' Gabbard said during an interview on 'The Ingraham Angle.' Advertisement 4 Gabbard was a target of the Quiet Skies program during the Biden administration, according to DHS. AP Gabbard had questioned Harris' leadership capabilities in remarks shortly after Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed his vice president to take up the mantle. Noem asserted that TSA would continue to perform 'important vetting functions to stop security threats and ensure the safety of the American traveler' despite no longer operating Quiet Skies. 'The Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public,' Noem said. 'This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans.'
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
US ending ‘Quiet Skies' airline passenger watch list screening programme
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is ending the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) 'Quiet Skies' aviation security watch list programme that designated some passengers deemed higher risks for enhanced screening. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the programme costs US$200 million (S$257 million) annually and 'was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies.' TSA, which screens more than 900 million airline passengers yearly, will continue performing vetting functions tied to commercial aviation security, she said. Some Republicans have raised concerns that the TSA briefly placed former lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard on the Quiet Skies list. Mr Trump named Ms Gabbard to serve as director of National Intelligence. Representative Bennie Thompson, top Democrat on the panel, denied the programme was political and criticised the move to end the programme, saying 'this shameful attempt to dismantle a national security agency that protects us from terror attacks will only make us less safe'. He added that Ms Gabbard's listing 'was automatic and well deserved.' 'This process has worked the same under administrations of both parties, including the first Trump administration.' House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green praised the decision to end the programme. 'While the Quiet Skies program was intended to mitigate threats posed to US aviation security, we know now that it ended up functioning solely as a political watch list,' Mr Green said. People on the list are subject to enhanced screening, typically including a patdown, an explosives trace detection and physical search of a passenger's property, electronics, and shoes. A 2020 inspector general report criticised the programme, saying the TSA did not 'develop outcome-based performance goals and measures to demonstrate program effectiveness' and had software algorithm and system malfunctions 'that resulted in passengers not being removed from the Quiet Skies List'. The American Civil Liberties Union in 2018 said the programme amounted to 'covert surveillance of innocent fliers' and said the TSA was 'using secret criteria that include travel patterns and specific behaviors to determine which travelers to target'. The US government sought to improve screening of potential threats following the 2009 attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to set off an explosive hidden in his underwear while aboard a US airliner near Detroit. In 2012, TSA began using risk-based factors to identify potentially higher-risk passengers and designate them for the Quiet Skies programme. In 2018, the Federal Air Marshal Service began prioritising the deployment of air marshals on flights with Quiet Skies members. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Noem ending TSA Quiet Skies traveler surveillance program
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday she is ending the Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) 'Quiet Skies Program,' saying it is costly, ineffective and used to target political opponents. In a press release, DHS said 'since its existence,' the traveler surveillance program 'has failed to stop a single terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers $200 million a year,' adding, 'The program, under the guise of 'national security,' was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies.' The press release said an internal investigation conducted by DHS and TSA uncovered documents, correspondence and timelines that demonstrate the 'inconsistent application of Quiet Skies and watchlisting programs' to benefit political allies. Noem did not make public evidence from the internal investigation but called on Congress to investigate the matter further. '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,' Noem said in a statement. 'I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,' she added. Noem also said eliminating the program would not compromise air safety. 'TSA's critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans,' she added. The once-secret program launched with the goal of monitoring potential security threats by 'unknown or partially known terrorists.' Through the program, undercover federal air marshals would observe passengers' behavior. This can include watching how close they stand to the boarding area, how often they use the bathroom and any behavioral tics such as sweating or twitching. The program has faced scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans alike in recent years, with many expressing concerns about potential civil liberty violations. The issue came into even sharper focus last year, when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman, said publicly that she was placed on a 'secret terror watch list' and suspected it was politically motivated. Earlier this week, a DHS official confirmed to CBS News that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's (D-N.H.) husband was placed on the watchlist in 2023 and removed after the senator spoke with the former TSA director. The senator's spokesperson told CBS News that she was not aware her husband had been monitored under the program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
