Audit Finds Flaws in TSA’s Quiet Skies Surveillance Program

The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) controversial Quiet Skies program designed to monitor higher risk travelers has come under more fire.

A recent audit released by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security determined that TSA continued to surveil some travelers long after they were no longer deemed a higher risk because the agency failed to “plan, implement and manage the Quiet Skies program to meet the program’s mission of mitigating the threat to commercial aviation.”

“TSA did not properly plan, implement and manage the Quiet Skies program to meet the program’s mission of mitigating the threat to commercial aviation posed by higher risk passengers. Specifically, TSA did not: develop performance goals and measures to demonstrate program effectiveness or always adhere to its own Quiet Skies guidance,” the audit stated.
“This occurred because TSA lacked sufficient oversight to ensure the Quiet Skies program operated as intended. For example, TSA did not have a centralized office or entity to ensure the various TSA offices properly managed Quiet Skies passenger data. Without sufficient metrics, analysis and controls, TSA cannot be assured the Quiet Skies program enhances aviation security through FAMS as intended.”

TSA Administrator David Pekoske agreed with some of the recommendations made but defended the agency in a letter response by pointing out that at least 58 travelers who were initially monitored under the Quiet Skies program from 2014 to 2020 were later labeled as “known or suspected terrorists” and added to the government’s no-fly terrorist watchlist.

“This data indicates that the Quiet Skies selectees are approximately 30 times more likely to pose an actual high risk than a randomly selected passenger, validating Quiet Skies’ value in identifying high-risk travel,” Pekoske said.

Civil rights groups have been critical of the eight-year-old program since it was first reported in 2018 and see the audit as yet another red flag. “There’s is no fixing this nonsense. TSA should end Quiet Skies once and for all,” Gadeir Abbas, senior litigation attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Los Angeles Times.

As the Times points out, the Quiet Skies program operates separately from the federal government watchlist intended to monitor known or suspected terrorists.