Rep. Bennie G. Thompson
A former FBI agent assigned to the Washington Field Office, Kyle Seraphin, has raised concerns about the expansion of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) surveillance activities following the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol.
In an article published on UncoverDC, Seraphin highlights a previously undisclosed letter written by then-Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), to TSA Administrator David Pekoske.
Thompson’s letter, dated January 11, 2021, describes the Capitol incident as an “insurrection” aimed at “preventing the certification of a democratic election and, apparently, inflicting violence upon elected officials.” The representative noted the unpreparedness of federal agencies despite “evidence the attack was planned largely in open internet forums.”
The letter details ongoing threats and the failure to arrest or restrict the movement of many involved, highlighting concerns about further violence, including at Joe Biden’s inauguration. It calls for urgent briefings on efforts to disrupt potentially threatening travel, deny air service to identified threats, protect transportation, and safeguard members of Congress and the public.
The letter also questions the TSA’s efforts to identify and add the “perpetrators” of the January 6th protest to watchlists, as well as the agency’s plans to protect surface transportation and ensure the safety of Members of Congress, flight crewmembers, and the public from domestic terror groups while traveling.
Below is part of the letter from Thompson to Pekoske:
Please provide a briefing not later than the end of this week on the following topics:
Current efforts to disrupt the travel of white supremacist and other domestic terrorist groups who may be planning further attacks against the U.S. Government and may be targeting the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden;
Options available for quickly denying air carrier service to individuals identified as posing a potential threat, including TSA’s authorities to prevent individuals from flying on a temporary or flight-by-flight basis;
The current status of efforts to identify and add to watchlists the perpetrators of Wednesday’s attack and the standards being used to determine their vetting status for future travel;
Plans to protect surface transportation from potential threats; and
Efforts to protect Members of Congress, flight crewmembers, and the public from domestic terror groups and sympathizers while traveling.
You can read the full letter here.
Seraphin’s article then focuses on the Quiet Skies program, revealing its expansion to include Americans who were in the National Capitol Region around January 6th.
Quiet Skies is a program by the TSA that uses air marshals to track and observe suspicious passengers. The program’s goal is to identify travelers who may pose a risk to aviation security, in short, a terrorist.
Initially aimed at identifying international travelers for enhanced screening, whistleblowers and retired FAM Sonya Labosco have exposed abuses of this program, which has led to invasive screenings and a “Secondary Security Screening Selection” (SSSS) designation on boarding passes, often for individuals involved in First Amendment activities or simply present in the area at the time.
Labosco, Director of the Air Marshal National Council (AMNC), highlights a shift in the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) post-January 2021, from focusing on international counterterrorism to surveilling domestic travelers not on any other federal watch list.
The AMNC’s investigations suggest this shift was a response to a political narrative, with the TSA’s role allegedly influenced by Congressman Thompson’s request to disrupt and deny services to individuals based on their political affiliations.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that the air marshals have been reassigned for the past two years under the Biden regime. They’re either stationed at the border dealing with illegal immigration or tracking individuals linked to the January 6, 2021 events, irrespective of their involvement in any criminal activities.
LaBosco indicated that the decision to relieve air marshals from their standard duty of protecting flights was due to the order of DHS Secretary Mayorkas and TSA Administrator David Pekoske.
“Our primary mission is a little group called Quiet Skies. It’s a mission called Quiet Skies that we’re following people that flew into the National Capitol region in January 2021. You did not have to go to the Capitol or the rally, and you’d been put on a specific list that TSA now has assigned Air Marshals to follow these people who have not had any type of criminal investigation. They haven’t committed a crime, but yet, three years later, we’re following the same individuals day in and day out,” LaBosco said.
“They didn’t even have to be at the Capitol. They could have just flown into the National Capitol region. So if anybody was there for a job interview to visit family, we even had a gentleman that was there for a funeral. They put on this domestic terrorist list just because of their geographic location to Washington, DC. So, these people did not even commit a crime. They weren’t even at the Capitol,” she added.
According to Seraphin, “What Americans should know after reading this letter is that the Democrat narrative regarding what they would set out to show in their highly curated, nominally bipartisan Committee on January 6th was already sent out as marching orders to one of the federal government’s most inefficient and theatrical entities: the TSA.”
The post Revealed: Thompson’s Newly Uncovered Letter May Be Behind TSA Wrongfully Adding Americans to Terror Watchlist appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.