Claim:
The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, placed former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on a "secret terror watchlist."
Rating:
Research In Progress ( About this rating? )
In a video announcement, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard claimed in September 2024 that the U.S. government had placed her on a "secret terror watchlist."
In the Sept. 4 video ( archived ), Gabbard explained how she came to learn that she had supposedly been flagged as a risk at the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration:
Just before boarding a flight on July 23 [2024], my husband and I were pulled aside for additional TSA screening. Our electronics were swabbed for traces of explosives, and when we landed my husband was pulled aside for another round of additional screening.
On the next several flights that we took, our boarding passes were marked with the "quad S" and we were subjected to in-depth searches by the TSA every single time, each time taking 30 to 45 minutes, every inch of our body patted down, every item in our carry-on searched and swabbed for explosive residue, and sometimes going through this all over again at the gate before being allowed to board the plane.
Every time this happened, we were told by the TSA agent there: "This is just a random selection." Now that might have been believable if it had happened just once or twice, but five, six, seven, eight times in a row? There's no way.
On Aug. 4, federal air marshal whistleblowers came forward with very disturbing information. They revealed that I had been added to a secret terror watchlist run by the TSA called Quiet Skies on July 23. This is the very same day my husband and I began to be subjected to those in-depth TSA searches.
[…]
I later learned that at least three air marshals were assigned to watch me every time I traveled in the airport and on the flight. TSA deployed explosive canine detection teams and a TSA explosive specialist. Now this is extreme by any measure. What were they looking for? What kind of threat did they think I posed, or are they afraid that I was going to do? None of this made sense until I put all the pieces together.
She went on to outline her supposition that the reason she'd allegedly been added to the TSA Quiet Skies watchlist was retaliation from the White House. To bolster her argument, she added that on July 22, 2024 — the day after President Joe Biden left the presidential race — she had spoken out against Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview on Fox News. Gabbard said Harris was "dangerous" because she did "not have the strength to stand up to the military industrial complex who are profiting from us being in a constant state of war."
Snopes placed a Freedom of Information Act request with the TSA, asking for any record of Gabbard's alleged inclusion in the Quiet Skies program, as well as any internal communications explaining the rationale behind it. We have given the claim the "Research In Progress" rating, which we will update if the FOIA request yields any relevant information.
According to several reputable news outlets , the four "S's" — "SSSS" — on a boarding pass in the U.S. stand for "Secondary Security Screening Selection." While the TSA does not confirm the procedures behind the "quad S," as Gabbard called it, a traveler might be selected at random once in a while, or it might happen repeatedly. Some claimed they owed their selection to buying a one-way ticket , to flying to high-risk countries or to having paid for their ticket in cash. But sometimes the tag appears on the boarding passes of travelers whose names either resembled or were included on DHS watchlists. If secondary screening occurs repeatedly, the DHS has created a process called Traveler Redress Inquiry Program by which the travelers can have their cases reviewed and the flags removed.
Besides that, the TSA has acknowledged the existence of a program called Quiet Skies , by which travelers systematically go through screenings against watchlists and other databases upon arrival to the U.S. Air marshals follow and check flagged travelers according to 15 rules, according to The Boston Globe , which first reported on the program. Though the agency has never made the full list of rules public, it has admitted to using them. It also does not normally share flagged names with the public, citing security concerns.
The TSA said it uses the Quiet Skies program alongside its Secure Flight program, "a risk-based passenger prescreening program that enhances security by identifying low and high-risk passengers before they arrive at the airport by matching their names against trusted traveler lists and watchlists." According to the TSA blog , Quiet Skies does not discriminate based on appearance or faith, but flags people only based on trips they have taken in the past and other information about them, including behavioral clues:
TSA uses this program to reduce the risk on airplanes by identifying passengers deemed to be higher risk according to certain travel patterns and other intelligence-based factors. Contrary to some reporting, the program does not take into account race or religion, and does not designate individuals based on their observed behaviors onboard an aircraft. As trained law enforcement officers, Federal Air Marshals observe passengers in accordance with their training. When FAMs are informed that a traveler identified through the intelligence-driven scenario rules will be on a particular flight or in the airport, they are able to observe the traveler in the airport and on the flight. Passengers referred to the program may require additional scrutiny for a certain period of time; however, TSA routinely removes passengers from the program sooner than the prescribed period if we become aware of information that indicates the passengers do not represent a risk.
Gabbard raised questions when she traveled to Syria and Lebanon in 2017 , when she still was a Democratic U.S. House representative from Hawaii (she has since left the party). In Syria — which in 1979 the U.S. government deemed a "state sponsor of terrorism" — she reportedly met with President Bashar al-Assad, on whom the U.S. imposed sanctions in 2011 for his violent treatment of the Syrian people . "Assad is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States," Gabbard told MSNBC in 2019.
But this trip and this declaration happened nearly seven and five years, respectively, before her alleged inclusion on the Quiet Skies program. We contacted Gabbard's team to ask about more recent trips or details that may have resulted in such an action from the TSA and will update this article if we receive a response. We have also reached out to the White House to ask whether it would retaliate against a political opponent in this way.
Sources:
ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Unconstitutional 'No Fly List'. http://avstop.com/news_july_2010/aclu_files_lawsuit_challenging_the_no_fly_list.htm . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Craig, Sean. 'Tulsi Gabbard Claims She Can't Get Off TSA "Terrorist" Watchlist'. The Daily Beast, 29 Aug. 2024. https://archive.is/ZXM7D, www.thedailybeast.com, https://www.thedailybeast.com/tulsi-gabbard-tells-sean-hannity-shes-stuck-on-tsa-terrorist-watchlist.
'DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program'. Security Screening, DHS, https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/travel-redress-program .
Facts About the "Quiet Skies" | Transportation Security Administration. https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2018/08/22/facts-about-quiet-skies . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Firm, National Security Law. Why Denied Entry or Exit at Airport? | National Security Law. 10 Mar. 2023, https://www.nationalsecuritylawfirm.com/why-am-i-subject-to-a-secondary-screen-or-being-denied-entry-or-exit-at-the-airport/ .
Globe, The Boston, and Jana Winter. 'In "Quiet Skies" Program, TSA Is Tracking Regular Travelers like Terrorists in Secret Surveillance'. BostonGlobe.Com, https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/graphics/2018/07/tsa-quiet-skies . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Halpern, Ashlea. 'What to Know If an SSSS Code Shows Up on Your Boarding Pass'. Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Jan. 2022, https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-to-know-if-an-ssss-code-shows-up-on-your-boarding-pass .
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SYRIA: TORTURE UNDER ASSAD. European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Mar. 2021, https://www.ecchr.eu/fileadmin/Sondernewsletter_Dossiers/Dossier_Syria_2021March.pdf .
'Kashem, et al. v. Barr, et al. - ACLU Challenge to Government No Fly List'. American Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/cases/kashem-et-al-v-barr-et-al-aclu-challenge-government-no-fly-list . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Privacy Impact Assessment Update for Secure Flight Silent Partner and Quiet Skies. DHS, 19 Apr. 2019, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pia-tsa-spqs018i-april2019_1.pdf .
'Syria Sanctions'. United States Department of State, https://www.state.gov/syria-sanctions/ . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Terrorist Screening Center. FBI, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/about-us/ten-years-after-the-fbi-since-9-11/just-the-facts-1/terrorist-screening-center-1 .
Watchlist Guidance. ACLU, Mar. 2013, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/legal-documents/March%202013%20Watchlist%20Guidance.pdf .
Watkins, Eli. 'Gabbard: "Assad Is Not the Enemy of the United States" | CNN Politics'. CNN, 6 Feb. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/politics/tulsi-gabbard-syria-assad/index.html .
'Why You Never Want to See These Four Letters on Your Boarding Pass'. Travel + Leisure, https://www.travelandleisure.com/ssss-on-boarding-pass-7547257 . Accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
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