[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 10, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Transportation Security Administration

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, last week, Secretary Noem ended a 
program that is called the Quiet Skies Program. It is a program that 
was well-intended when it was set up, but the Biden administration 
weaponized it to target its opposition, including the now-Director of 
National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
  Quiet Skies was supposed to track American airline travelers who had 
prior contact with known or suspected terrorists.
  You can have no argument with that intent to make sure that air 
travel is safe, but instead it has been revealed that the Biden 
administration's Transportation Security Administration allegedly 
tracked U.S. citizens based upon nine nonsecurity-related 
considerations.
  As just one example, whistleblowers told my office, some who were 
merely present at a rally on January 6, 2021, with President Trump were 
added to the Quiet Skies' list of targeting.
  In another allegation, a woman was accused of invading the Capitol on 
January 6 and later added to the Quiet Skies. The woman was disabled 
and couldn't physically engage in those actions.
  Now, fortunately, Secretary Noem shut down Quiet Skies to end this 
weaponization, and that should be music to everybody's ears.
  In August 2024, I wrote to Biden's Transportation Security 
Administration questioning their abuse of this authority under this 
Quiet Skies Program. I did not get sufficient answers from the previous 
administration.
  I will continue my oversight to learn the full truth about the Quiet 
Skies Program, and I appreciate Secretary Noem and Director Gabbard's 
leadership as my office works with them on the oversight request.