{"id":221699,"date":"2025-09-30T15:21:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=221699"},"modified":"2025-10-01T15:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:37:21","slug":"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov&#8217;t Surveillance Under &#8216;Quiet Skies&#8217; is Dead. Keep It That Way."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-estimated-reading-time yoast-reading-time__wrapper\"><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__icon\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-icon=\"clock\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" style=\"display:inline-block;vertical-align:-0.1em\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M12 8v4l3 3m6-3a9 9 0 11-18 0 9 9 0 0118 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__spacer\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:1em\"><\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__descriptive-text\">Estimated reading time: <\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__reading-time\">4<\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__time-unit\"> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>At today\u2019s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, journalist Matt Taibbi laid bare the full absurdity of the Transportation Security Administration\u2019s <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What he described was not a serious counterterrorism tool, but a sprawling surveillance dragnet that trampled civil liberties, burned through taxpayer money, and delivered nothing in return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s long past time for this program &#8212; and anything that remotely resembles it &#8212; to be permanently dismantled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><h2>Table of contents<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"#h-no-results-only-abuses\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" data-level=\"2\">No Results, Only Abuses<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-political-weaponization\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" data-level=\"2\">Political Weaponization<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-a-culture-of-unchecked-surveillance\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" data-level=\"2\">A Culture of Unchecked Surveillance<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-shut-the-door-don-t-just-change-the-name\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" data-level=\"2\">Shut the Door, Don\u2019t Just Change the Name<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-conclusion\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" data-level=\"2\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&#039;This Is What Our Government Does Now&#039;: Matt Taibbi Sounds Off On Mass Surveillance By The Govt\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G1AA4TRjjW8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-no-results-only-abuses\">No Results, Only Abuses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As Taibbi testified, the TSA spent $200 million a year monitoring as many as 50 people a day under <em>Quiet Skies<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet in the entire history of the program, it never led to a single arrest or prevented a terrorist attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, it created a culture of surveillance for its own sake. \u201cThis is what our government does now,\u201d Taibbi said. \u201cIt gathers information on its own citizens as an end in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One striking case involved <strong>former Hawaii congresswoman and combat veteran Tulsi Gabbard<\/strong>, who, as Taibbi reported, was placed under surveillance that included bomb-sniffing dogs and teams of three Federal Air Marshals shadowing her on domestic flights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The TSA stonewalled when asked for justification, insisting that \u201cmatching to a risk-based rule does not constitute derogatory information.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words: being flagged doesn\u2019t mean you did anything wrong \u2014 but we\u2019ll treat you like a suspect anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-political-weaponization\">Political Weaponization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Rand Paul, chairing the hearing, underscored how <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> went beyond waste and ineffectiveness into outright political targeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Records revealed that Tulsi Gabbard was surveilled on at least five domestic flights \u2014 despite her known identity as a sitting public figure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf this can happen to a combat veteran, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, and now Director of National Intelligence,\u201d Paul said, \u201cit can happen to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t just Gabbard. According to documents released in Paul\u2019s investigation, <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> was used to target Americans for First Amendment-protected activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/jacob-grey-drops-the-nox-9\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\">Jacob Grey Drops the Nox 9<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Catholic schoolteacher from Texas was watch-listed as a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d merely for attending Trump\u2019s January 6th rally \u2014 even though location data and facial recognition confirmed she never entered the Capitol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other Americans were flagged for removing masks on airplanes during COVID mandates. Incredibly, three sitting Republican members of Congress were also swept into the related \u201cSilent Partner\u201d program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not counterterrorism. This is the weaponization of federal resources to chill dissent and punish political opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-culture-of-unchecked-surveillance\">A Culture of Unchecked Surveillance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BREAKING NEWS: Rand Paul Details &#039;Weaponization&#039; Of TSA Against Tulsi Gabbard During Biden Era\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/74VAaPPbxxQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The larger problem is that <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> is not an isolated case but part of a post-9\/11 drift toward normalizing warrantless mass surveillance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taibbi reminded senators of James Clapper\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2013\/jul\/02\/james-clapper-senate-erroneous\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\">infamous<\/a> \u201cleast untruthful\u201d answer to Congress about NSA data collection \u2014 a moment that confirmed lying about domestic spying carries no penalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the government starts collecting data on innocent citizens (especially 2A supporters), it creates a perpetual justification to do it again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One Federal Air Marshal put it plainly to Taibbi: \u201cThe air marshal\u2019s job is to protect the cockpit and the pilots. Let somebody else do the intelligence.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, marshals trained for critical security missions were conscripted into following ordinary Americans around airports, clipboard in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shut-the-door-don-t-just-change-the-name\">Shut the Door, Don\u2019t Just Change the Name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Biden\u2019s TSA Administrator Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting. <br \/><br \/>Biden\u2019s TSA wildly abused their authority, targeting Americans who posed no aviation security risk under the\u2026<\/p>&mdash; Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sec_Noem\/status\/1973008973704925383?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\">September 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has announced the termination of <em>Quiet Skies<\/em>, but as Paul warned, that is not enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe must make sure that this program does not come back under another name,\u201d he said. Programs built on secrecy, vague authorities, and political bias will always be tempted to resurface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ending <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> must be paired with accountability. Every official who directed surveillance of Americans for political or expressive activity should be removed from office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transparency should be the default \u2014 not something won through years of congressional inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> program epitomized what happens when security agencies abandon the distinction between \u201cbad thoughts\u201d and \u201cbad acts.\u201d It drained public resources, violated core constitutional rights, and undermined trust in the very institutions meant to protect us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Taibbi told the committee: \u201cIt\u2019s time to stop being numb to this outrage.\u201d Eliminating <em>Quiet Skies<\/em> must be the beginning of reform, not the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:24px\"><strong><em>*** <a href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\" title=\"Gov't Surveillance Under 'Quiet Skies' is Dead. Keep It That Way.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a> ***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At today\u2019s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, journalist Matt Taibbi laid bare the full absurdity of the Transportation Security Administration\u2019s Quiet Skies program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":221702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4024],"tags":[132,586,607],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-221699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-buzz","9":"tag-column","10":"tag-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gov&#039;t Surveillance Under &#039;Quiet Skies&#039; is Dead.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Quiet Skies targeted innocent Americans, even Tulsi Gabbard, without results. 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Keep It That Way.","og_description":"At today\u2019s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, journalist Matt Taibbi laid bare the full absurdity of the Transportation Security Administration\u2019s Quiet Skies program.","og_url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\/","og_site_name":"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica","article_published_time":"2025-09-30T20:21:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-01T20:37:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Quiet_Skies.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Larry Z","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/GunsAmerica","twitter_site":"@gunsamerica","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Larry Z","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/govt-surveillance-under-quiet-skies-is-dead\/"},"author":{"name":"Larry Z","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/person\/e6de4369965cb544a9ebd9533bb9c06b"},"headline":"Gov&#8217;t Surveillance Under &#8216;Quiet Skies&#8217; is Dead. 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