'Creepy
Violation of Constitutional Rights'
To watch this on
YouTube: https://youtu.be/3bCepmii8S8
A domestic
surveillance program called Quiet Skies—which is operated by the Transportation
Security Administration, or TSA, and was revealed Saturday in a "blockbuster" Boston Globe exposé—is provoking strong criticism, with the
ACLU asserting that "such surveillance
not only makes no sense, it's a waste of taxpayer money and raises
constitutional concerns."
"Already under
Quiet Skies, thousands of unsuspecting Americans have been subjected to
targeted airport and inflight surveillance," the Globe reports,
citing documents and people within the department.
The program, which
launched in March, uses armed federal air marshals to covertly monitor how U.S.
citizens behave on commercial domestic flights.
The undercover
marshals are required to take "notes on whether travelers use a phone, go
to the bathroom, chat with others, or change clothes."
In their reports to
TSA, marshals may "document whether passengers fidget, use a computer,
have a 'jump' in their Adam's apple or a 'cold penetrating stare,' among other
behaviors," according to the Globe's review of agency records.
"Such surveillance not only makes no sense, it's a waste of taxpayer money and raises constitutional concerns." —ACLU
In their reports to
TSA, marshals may "document whether passengers fidget, use a computer,
have a 'jump' in their Adam's apple or a 'cold penetrating stare,' among other
behaviors," according to the Globe's review of agency records.
Although TSA declined
to even confirm the existence of Quiet Skies—a spokesman claimed disclosing
such information "would make passengers less safe"—in addition
obtaining to internal records, the Globe spoke with marshals
who "say the program has them tasked with shadowing travelers who appear
to pose no real threat—a businesswoman who happened to have traveled through a
Mideast hot spot, in one case; a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, in
another; a fellow federal law enforcement officer, in a third."
"Quiet Skies
represents a major departure for TSA," the newspaper notes.
"Since the Sept.
11 attacks, the agency has traditionally placed armed air marshals on routes it
considered potentially higher risk, or on flights with a passenger on a terrorist
watch list.
Deploying air marshals to gather intelligence on civilians not on a terrorist watch list is a new assignment, one that some air marshals say goes beyond the mandate of the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service. Some also worry that such domestic surveillance might be illegal."
"All U.S. citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for inclusion in Quiet Skies—their travel patterns and affiliations are checked and their names run against a terrorist watch list and other databases," the Globe reports.
Deploying air marshals to gather intelligence on civilians not on a terrorist watch list is a new assignment, one that some air marshals say goes beyond the mandate of the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service. Some also worry that such domestic surveillance might be illegal."
"All U.S. citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for inclusion in Quiet Skies—their travel patterns and affiliations are checked and their names run against a terrorist watch list and other databases," the Globe reports.
Hugh Handeyside, a
senior staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, said that
"these revelations raise profound concerns about whether TSA is conducting
pervasive surveillance of travelers without any suspicion of actual
wrongdoing."
"If TSA is using
proxies for race or religion to single out travelers for surveillance, that
could violate the travelers' constitutional rights," he explained.
"These concerns are all the more acute because of TSA's track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong."
"These concerns are all the more acute because of TSA's track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong."
Readers, too, raised
civil rights concerns—one blogger denounced it as "a
creepy violation of constitutional rights," while others called it "disquieting" and "disturbing."
Alongside its written
report, the Globe published a video about Quiet Skies: