House Oversight and Reform Chairman James Comer called for further investigation into what he called an "unequal system" of favoritism of the Transportation Security Administration's Quiet Skies program under former President Joe Biden's administration.
Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem shut down the program, and in a letter to her, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, asked for more details and said the matter deserves Congressional scrutiny, The Washington Times reported Tuesday.
"The maintenance of secret exclusion lists comprising foreign dignitaries, athletes, and select journalists created an unequal system that undermined both security effectiveness and constitutional principles of equal treatment," Comer wrote in his letter. "Such practices represent a fundamental departure from proper administrative procedures and merit thorough congressional examination."
Noem, in shutting down Quiet Skies, revealed allegations of retaliation and favoritism that the Biden administration had employed, and said the program never prevented a terrorist attack but cost $200 million a year.
The TSA started its Quiet Skies program in 2010 as an attempt to pay extra attention to certain plane passengers who do not appear on other watchlists. Such passengers were not denied being able to board planes, but still faced enhanced airport screenings and drew extra attention from TSA air marshals during flights and while at the airport.
But there have been several complaints of favoritism, including last year, when Tulsi Gabbard, now President Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence, was placed on the Quiet Skies list after she criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The DHS said this year that in another incident, William Shaheen, the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., was added to Quiet Skies in 2023 after traveling with an alleged potential terrorist associate, but was taken off the list after she placed a call to TSA officials.
Shaheen's office denied to The Washington Times that she requested that he be taken off the list, and said that she didn't know he had been included.
Sources, however, told CBS News that after the senator contacted the TSA, it moved her husband, a Lebanese-American attorney who is active in the Arab-American community, to a list excluding him from future advanced screenings and random airport security checks.
Comer said the incident remains concerning.
"The case involving Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's husband — who received unprecedented exemptions following direct political intervention despite multiple travels with suspected terrorists — exemplifies these problematic practices," he wrote in the letter.
Comer further called for an accounting of everyone who was granted waivers or exemptions from Quiet Skies during the Biden administration. Comer also is seeking documentation on how names were added or removed, and if there were demands from the White House or Homeland Security headquarters to interfere with the list.
Comer also said he is seeking documents that the Biden administration would not turn over about the situation, and for DHS to brief committee staffers.
"The Biden administration obstructed the committee's legitimate oversight and failed to provide all of the documents requested by the committee," he wrote. "Due to the change in administration and the program's recent termination, the committee is seeking additional responsive documents and information related to the Quiet Skies program and its implementation."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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