Surveillance for thee, but not for me?

by Alex Nuti – de Biasi, editor, the Journal-Opinion

From a CBS news report Tuesday night: “New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s husband was placed on a government watchlist in 2023 after a surveillance program flagged his travel profile, but he was removed after the senator back-channeled with administration officials, sources familiar with the situation told CBS News.”

New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen’s husband was put on a TSA domestic surveillance list called “Quiet Skies” after he traveled with someone who was on a separate FBI terrorism watchlist. That person was later removed from the terrorism watchlist.

TSA subjects people on the Quiet Skies list to additional scrutiny and screenings. Advocates on both the political right and left have criticized the program.

CBS: “Some Americans undertake exhaustive efforts to get themselves removed from the Quiet Skies enhanced screening list — with some even engaging in protracted legal fights.”  

After he was removed from the Quiet Skies list, Shaheen’s husband then received preferential treatment. 

“William Shaheen, a Lebanese-American attorney active in the Arab-American community, was then placed on a different list, which excluded him from any future advanced screening, including random checks at airport TSA checkpoints, two of the sources said.”

Per InDepthNH, Sen. Shaheen said she did not know her husband was on the Quiet Skies list and denies having him removed.

After CBS broke the story on Tuesday night, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a news release accusing the Biden administration of “circumventing security policies to benefit politically aligned friends and family at the expense of the American people.”

The Trump administration could end Quiet Skies as soon as today, reports Reuters.

Editor’s note: in a Daily Digest Bulletin issued Thursday, June 5, DHS noted that “All the while, Tulsi Gabbard, and many other Americans, were placed on the Silent Partners’ Quiet Skies list with little to no visibility, awareness, explanation, or oversight.”