The House Oversight Committee is opening an investigation into the Transportation Security Administration over the agency's alleged retaliation against whistleblowers who expose waste and abuse, including the placement of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on a government watch list.
“I write with deep concern that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials are continuing a pattern of retaliation against whistleblowers attempting to expose waste and abuse at the agency,” said Chairman James Comer in a letter to TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Most recently, Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) employees made protected whistleblower disclosures revealing that FAMS wasted resources and abused its authority by assigning air marshals to surveil the spouse of a Federal Air Marshal and a former U.S. Member of Congress, Tulsi Gabbard. These alleged assignments are coming at a time of heightened concerns of potential terrorist attacks against the United States. Instead of holding officials accountable for this misconduct, it now appears that the whistleblowers have been targets of a ‘retaliatory investigation’ by leadership at TSA for their protected disclosures.”
Comer pointed to a Federal Air Marshal whistleblower who alleged his wife was improperly labeled a domestic terrorist and targeted over her attendance at President Trump's Jan. 6, 2021, speech in D.C. He also cited the recent targeting of Gabbard, who was placed on the "Quiet Skies" watch list.
“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, TSA is struggling to fulfill its mission," Comer added. "From FAMs being forced to detail on the southwest border to process and provide services to illegal border crossers, to tailing American citizens and public figures, to retaliating against whistleblowers for their protected disclosures, there is something wrong at TSA under the Biden-Harris Administration."
The chairman requested documents and information between Jan. 6, 2021 to the present by Sept. 6, 2024.
Gabbard said she was added to the watch list after criticizing the Biden administration during a Fox News interview. Now she's constantly "wondering if and how my government is surveilling me."
Under this program, which is supposed to be used for potential terrorist threats, these whistleblowers allege that she has two Explosive Detection Canine Teams, one Transportation Security Specialist (explosives), one plainclothes TSA Supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals on every flight she boards. Tulsi Gabbard has also been subjected to extensive additional searches every time she flies, had her bags searched, and had TSA agents intrusively go through her clothes – including being subjected to Quad S advanced screenings on all flights. (ACLJ)
She continues to face the same treatment.
This is real - have heard from @TulsiGabbard and she just went through the same extended search process she experienced at the beginning of this mess. https://t.co/8mjLe6i3RO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) August 25, 2024
The TSA Quiet Skies program has not led to even one arrest, has never foiled a plot, and has never led to a suspect being elevated to a different watch list.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) August 25, 2024
The program in 12+ years has not produced one result. https://t.co/hWJnvfS2uz
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