House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has demanded that the Transporation Security Administration (TSA) provide documents relating to its surveillance of Tulsi Gabbard through the Quiet Skies program.
The Quiet Skies program is a watchlist for individuals who present a risk to public safety on flights.
Jordan sent a letter to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, declaring that Pekoske has “filed to comply with the Committee’s requests” to provide information pertaining to Gabbard’s surveillance.
“According to whistleblowers from the Federal Air Marshals, the TSA began to surveil Representative Gabbard through its Quiet Skies Program on July 23, 2024, one day after she criticized the Biden-Harris Administration in a televised interview,” the letter says. The whistleblowers claimed there were “abnormalities” in Gabbard’s surveillance, including that its basis and duration were “unusually long.”
Jordan requested that Pekoske produce information for the matter by Septemeber 23.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) announced that it is taking legal action on behalf of Gabbard due to her presence on the watchlist.
“We are launching a multipronged legal effort not only to defend Tulsi Gabbard but to defeat the weaponization of government against conservatives, our military, and the free speech of all Americans once and for all,” the ACLJ announced in a press release last month. “We are preparing to submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the TSA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI, demanding answers about how and why Gabbard has been unconstitutionally targeted.”
Responding to her presence on the watchlist, Gabbard said, “My own government, my president, my commander-in-chief is targeting me as a potential domestic terrorist, the closest word that comes to mind is a complete sense of betrayal,” Gabbard said, adding, “Of course, there’s no explanation given, which is why we are taking legal recourse.”
