by Matt Taibbi at Racket News
Exclusive: new Senate documents show members of Congress, others placed under an intrusive surveillance for dubious reasons under now-defunct TSA program
Racket News Matt Taibbi’s Opening Statement on the Blue Sky’s program before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee
Ahead of Tuesday hearings on the subject, the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) obtained documents showing three members of Congress, all Republicans, were followed under the TSA’s just-discontinued Quiet Skies program, which became infamous last summer when whistleblowers revealed bomb-sniffing dogs and Air Marshals were assigned to follow former Hawaii Congresswoman and future National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.
The members’ names have not yet been publicly released, but they were turned over to the Committee by the Department of Homeland Security, along with “TSA” notes explaining how they ended up on the list. Two of the three members made it onto the list before being elected, but as the Committee notes, “a cursory review would have revealed them to be a member of Congress, or a decorated U.S. veteran or service member.” The list below looks like four entries, but the second and third are the same member:
Three current members of Congress in addition to Tulsi Gabbard were recently chosen for “Quiet Skies” surveillance
A wealth of other information — not just about Quiet Skies but other questionable TSA practices — has been produced to the Committee chaired by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Among the revelations:…
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