Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, announced on Thursday that the Trump administration was ending a counterterrorism program used to conduct surveillance on air travelers, contending that the program had been exploited to target political conservatives while failing to stop any attacks.
The Transportation Security Administration program, known as Quiet Skies, sought to increase airplane security by allowing federal marshals to follow U.S. citizens on domestic and certain outbound international flights, if those individuals had previously come into contact with people considered “known or suspected terrorists.” Under the program, people could be followed even if they were not themselves on a terrorism watch list or suspected of any crime.
According to Ms. Noem, who made the announcement on social media, the program “failed to stop a SINGLE terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers roughly $200 million a year.”
“The program, under the guise of ‘national security,’ was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies of the Biden Administration,” she said, citing what she said were “documents, correspondence, and timelines that clearly highlight the inconsistent application of Quiet Skies.”
It is not clear whether the program ever prevented an attack on an airplane, or how many people tracked by the program represented any sort of threat. The Quiet Skies program has other documented shortcomings. In 2020, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security released a report concluding that it lacked sufficient oversight, including measures to ensure that passenger data was managed responsibly.
Quiet Skies was established during the Obama administration. More recently, it has attracted the ire of conservatives, who have accused former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of using it to target political enemies, including Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who is now the director of national intelligence.
In the summer of 2024, while Ms. Gabbard was campaigning for President Trump, the T.S.A. briefly placed her and her husband, Abraham Williams, in the Quiet Skies program. Ms. Gabbard was added because of an event she attended at the Vatican earlier that year organized by a European businessman who, at least at that time, was on an F.B.I. watch list. It was not clear why the businessman was placed on the watch list or whether he was on it by mistake.
Ms. Gabbard emerged as a tough critic of the program, contending she had been placed on what she called a “domestic terror watch list” as a result of her criticism of the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Mr. Biden as the Democratic nominee.
Biden administration officials at the time said her placement in the Quiet Skies program was unrelated to her political positions. Ms. Gabbard herself was not accused of wrongdoing, and she remained in the program for a very short time. Yet her experience has continued to rally members of the Trump administration against the program.
Ms. Noem cited Ms. Gabbard’s experience in a video message accompanying her social media post, in which she said her department would investigate the application of the Quiet Skies program.
She also called on Congress to conduct its own investigation “to uncover further corruption.”
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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