TSA Watchlists Were Used as Tools of Political Warfare

The Trump administration receives well-justified criticism for using government power to punish political foes such as former FBI director James Comey, funder of left-wing causes George Soros, and law firms linked to the Democratic Party. But don’t forget that former President Joe Biden’s administration also weaponized the state against its enemies. It just did so quietly, behind the scenes, and with the approval of much of the media. The Biden administration not only leaned on tech companies to muzzle critics of the powers-that-be, but it also turned due-process-free watchlists into means of harassing people it didn’t like.

On September 30, “the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the results of an internal investigation uncovering widespread abuses committed by Biden administration officials, who weaponized the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) against innocent American citizens,” according to a TSA press release.

The Biden administration is accused of adding people who “resisted mask mandates on airplanes nearly six months after the CDC relaxed its indoor mask mandate” to watchlists that subjected them to extra security. It also watchlisted not just participants in the January 6, 2021 riot, but also those merely suspected of traveling to the Washington, D.C. area in sympathy with the protesters. “This targeted campaign of harassment continued through June 2021, six months after the events in question, despite no clear or immediate threat to aviation security.” (Emphasis in original.)

With regard to the specifics of those watchlist inclusions, Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) released documents acquired by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The committee held a September 30 hearing on the “weaponization of the Quiet Skies program,” a TSA watchlist scheme terminated after it was found to have been abused for political purposes.

It’s been reported that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii), now the Director of National Intelligence, was placed on the Quiet Skies watchlist. The Biden administration claimed her inclusion was, in part, because she attended a Vatican event organized by a suspicious European. But she and many others believe it was retaliation for her criticism of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Journalist Matt Taibbi reports that Gabbard’s name was on the list alongside three unnamed Republican members of Congress who also offended the powers that be. But you didn’t have to have a high profile to get on a watchlist.

A January 15, 2021 TSA document released by Paul directs that “Placement on the TSA Watchlist (Deny Boarding) is appropriate for…individuals who unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021,” engaged in violent conduct at the Capitol, possessed weapons there, or threatened government personnel and others. The behavior described is disturbing, but as is customary with the government’s watchlists, there’s no provision for due process; we’re supposed to assume that whoever sticks names on the watchlists gets it right without mistake or malice. Even more concerning is that “individuals responsible for organizing or inciting seditious conduct” were also supposed to be barred from air travel, despite the difficulty of proving such a rarely charged crime in a court of law.

The same document prescribed placement on the TSA Watchlist (Enhanced Screening) for “individuals suspected of traveling to the National Capitol Region in conjunction with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and who are believed to pose an elevated risk of domestic terrorism, but for whom there is a current lack of specific information relating to unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol, violent acts in support of the January 6, 2021 attack, or incitement of the same.” That is, the feds couldn’t prove that some people might have been involved in the January 6 riot but decided to screw them over anyway.

Designated for “placement on the TSA Watch List (Security Notification)” were those who “harass or threaten the harassment of security personnel, flight crew, or passengers in conjunction with either the Presidential transition or requirements to wear personal protective equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” The mask wars took to the air even though the cloth masks forced on most people did little or nothing to prevent transmission (well-fitting N95 masks work, but few people had them).

The problem with watchlisting people accused of, but not proven to have engaged in, crimes—or those merely suspected of being in the vicinity—is illustrated by the case of Christine Crowder. Her husband, Mark Crowder, a senior air marshal, told the Senate Quiet Skies hearing that, in the course of his duties, “I discovered my wife, Christine…had been flagged in the system as a domestic terrorist, falsely accused of entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.” Crowder brought the situation to the attention of his superiors but was told to let the situation run its course. At one time, he said, as an air marshal on a flight with his wife, the team surveilling her had to coordinate with him.

Overall, he warned, “politically motivated priorities diverted critical resources from genuine security threats.” He described what he saw as “a weaponization of federal law enforcement to harass and intimidate citizens exercising their constitutional rights.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen watchlists abused—and the failure of their inadequate-to-nonexistent safeguards. The ACLU has long warned that “the U.S. government maintains a massive watchlist system that risks stigmatizing hundreds of thousands of people—including U.S. citizens—as terrorism suspects based on vague, overbroad, and often secret standards and evidence.” In the past, people were most often placed on the lists because of unproven allegations of Islamist terrorism. Now political activities can get people labeled as “domestic violent extremists” and placed on the lists.

Watchlists are such easy tools to abuse. You open your mouth one day, and suddenly your life becomes much more difficult—and there’s no easy appeal because you haven’t been found guilty of anything. You’re just harassed until your tormenters get bored and move on.

It’s understandable that those who were watchlisted and subject to surveillance, like those who were muzzled by behind-the-scenes pressure brought on private companies to suppress criticism of the last administration, are enraged by these revelations. Who wouldn’t want payback?

What we don’t need, though, is a return round of politicized prosecutions and targeting of foes of the current White House and its allies. That doesn’t end the problem, it normalizes it. The people who did the targeting should be punished. More importantly, though, their toys should be taken away: no more watchlists, no more leaning on private companies. Anything that even looks like the targeting of people should require due process. Then, maybe, we can stop the cycle of targeting and retaliation.