The TSA’s Secret Program Is Following Some Travelers Around The Country

Are TSA agents keeping an eye on you without your knowledge? It turns out that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been operating a program called Quiet Skies without telling the public. The program allows undercover air marshals to monitor targeted travelers while they fly within the United States. The marshals are permitted to take notes on the behaviors of the travelers that are targeted by the program. The information that is gathered is then sent back to the TSA.

Just how long has Quiet Skies been operating? The TSA began the program back in 2010. It was then significantly updated in 2012. Quiet Eyes was given a major overhaul once more in March of this year.

The existence of Quiet Skies was only confirmed recently when a TSA bulletin from the spring was leaked to the press by an anonymous source. Who exactly is the TSA’s Quiet Skies program targeting? The program is focused on travelers who aren’t on any terrorist watch lists. What’s more, those targeted by the program aren’t currently under investigation by any agency. That could leave some travelers worried that any person who books a flight could be the target of unlawful surveillance.

A spokesperson for the TSA has assured the public that the agency does not take a person’s race or religion into account when choosing who to place under surveillance. What’s more, Quiet Skies is not intended to place ordinary Americans under surveillance. The TSA supposedly reviews how Quiet Skies is being operated on a routine basis to ensure that it complies with all privacy rights, civil rights and liberties.

The TSA’s main objective in running Quiet Eyes is centered on observing suspicious travelers to look for signs of an impending terror attack. Some of the things that marshals are looking for when observing targets include whether a person changes clothes or shaves while traveling. In addition, things like abrupt directional changes when navigating through an airplane, sweating, blinking often or trembling could be signs that a person is about to make a move. Even behaviors regarding a person’s phone usage during a flight are watched closely.

Travelers are naturally going to wonder what causes a person to get on the radar of Quiet Skies. One of the big red flags that could place a person under suspicion is frequent foreign travel. People who make frequent trips to countries with terrorist roots are likely to be singled out. The TSA analyzes travel patterns and uses intelligence from a variety of local and federal agencies before making the decision to assign an air marshal to a target.

However, the precise criteria that is used for determining that an airline passenger is a target of Quiet Eyes has not been disclosed by the TSA for obvious reasons. What we do know is that dozens of people flying in the Untied States are observed and followed by air marshals working under Quiet Skies every day. A target will remain on the Quiet Skies list to be monitored for up to 90 days or until three of their trips have been observed.