Arizona GOP Rep. Abraham Hamadeh slammed the previous presidential administration this week for its weaponization of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its Quiet Skies program after learning he was on a TSA watch list.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended the program earlier this year over its secretive monitoring of domestic air travelers deemed to be potential security risks. The Quiet Skies program was formally launched in 2012.Â
The program was originally intended to identify and track individuals who may pose threats to aviation and relied on behavioral analysis and data collection that was often gathered without passengers’ knowledge.
The DHS on Tuesday said an investigation uncovered “widespread abuses” carried out by the Biden administration to make air travel “weaponized” against certain Americans, which includes Hamadeh and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that the Biden Administration used TSA’s Quiet Skies rules to target me while I was serving this nation in the U.S. Army Reserves and as a prosecutor in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office,” Hamadeh said in a news release on Thursday.
“The corrupt system targets those whom they fear the most, so it offers me some consolation that I join [Gabbard] a fellow veteran and former congresswoman, on this list,” he continued. “It is clear evidence that this program was used to target critics of Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for our civil liberties and spit on our cherished Constitution.”
Hamadeh said that he was on the list because he questioned the validity of Arizona’s 2022 General Election.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul released a flash report on his investigation into the TSA program, which found that several Republican lawmakers were on the watch list, along with at least two dozen Americans for protesting mask mandates or removing a mask on an aircraft.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
