Air marshals secretly monitored US passengers for years

[Wyatt earp]

Error | US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

Federal air marshals have for years been quietly monitoring small numbers of U.S. air passengers and reporting on in-flight behavior considered suspicious, even if those individuals have no known terrorism links, the Transportation Security Administration said on Sunday.

Under a sensitive, previously undisclosed program called "Quiet Skies," the TSA has since 2010 tasked marshals to identify passengers who raise flags because of travel histories or other factors and conduct secret observations of their actions - including behavior as common as sweating heavily or using the restroom repeatedly - as they fly between U.S. destinations.

The Boston Globe first revealed the existence of the Quiet Skies program on Sunday. In response to questions, TSA spokesman James Gregory offered more details of the program's origins and goals, comparing it to other law enforcement activities that ask officers to closely monitor individuals or areas vulnerable to crime.

"We are no different than the cop on the corner who is placed there because there is an increased possibility that something might happen," Gregory said. "When you're in a tube at 30,000 feet . . . it makes sense to put someone there."

The TSA declined to provide complete information on how individuals are selected for Quiet Skies and how the program works.

According to the TSA, the program used travel records and other factors to identify passengers who will be subject to additional checks at airports and, sometimes, be observed in flight by air marshals who report on their activities to the agency.

The initiative raises new questions about the privacy of ordinary Americans as they go about routine travel within the United States and about the broad net cast by law enforcement as it seeks to keep air travel safe.

Gregory said the program did not single out passengers based on race or religion and should not be considered surveillance because the agency does not, for example, listen to passengers' calls or follow flagged individuals around airports.

But during in-flight observation of people who are tagged as Quiet Skies passengers, marshals use an agency checklist to record passenger behavior: Did he or she sleep during the flight? Did he or she use a cellphone? Look around erratically?

"The program analyzes information on a passenger's travel patterns while taking the whole picture into account," Gregory said, adding "an additional line of defense to aviation security."

"If that person does all that stuff, and the airplane lands safely and they move on, the behavior will be noted, but they will not be approached or apprehended," Gregory said.

He declined to say whether the program has resulted in arrests or disruption of any criminal plots.

Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, called on the TSA to provide more information about the program to passengers.

"Such surveillance not only makes no sense, it is a big waste of taxpayer money and raises a number of constitutional questions," he said. "These concerns and the need for transparency 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."

The TSA, which was created soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, screens on average more than 2 million passengers a day.

While the agency is tasked with a weighty public safety mission, it has at times been publicly rebuked for being intrusive and abusive at airport checkpoints. It has been accused of doing little to enhance security while subjecting passengers to searches or questioning.

In 2015, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that undercover agents were able to slip fake bombs past TSA screeners about 95 percent of the time. A year later, the flying public was in an uproar over long lines to move through security screening.

But TSA officials have said that ensuring public safety while keeping passengers moving has made their work difficult.

"We have a no-fail mission," former TSA administrator Peter Neffinger told Congress in 2015.

The agency has also been criticized for its treatment of Muslims and other minorities who have complained of being profiled while traveling.

Earlier this year, media reports revealed that the agency had compiled a secret list of unruly passengers.

Passengers may be selected for Quiet Skies screening because of their affiliation with someone on the government's no-fly list or other databases aimed at preventing terrorist attacks.

"This program raises a whole host of civil liberties and profiling concerns," said Faiza Patel, co-director of the New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.

Critics say the TSA's databases are overly broad and include incorrect information.

The no-fly list, for example, grew from about 16 people in September 2001 to 64,000 people in 2014.

But Patel, an attorney, said that law enforcement officials are generally free to surveil individuals as long as they do not do so based on criteria such as ethnicity.
---
The Washington Post's Fredrick Kunkle contributed to this report.
​

FYI your OP needs personal comment , not just copy n paste.



And I don't think what the big deal is, better safe than sorry sorry at 30,000 feet.



.

 

[irosie91]

If an air marshal wants to OBSERVE me as I fidget in my
airplane seat-----FINE WITH ME. I hope he is armed---
with something that does not put holes in the plane

 

[Pogo]

Error | US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

Federal air marshals have for years been quietly monitoring small numbers of U.S. air passengers and reporting on in-flight behavior considered suspicious, even if those individuals have no known terrorism links, the Transportation Security Administration said on Sunday.

Under a sensitive, previously undisclosed program called "Quiet Skies," the TSA has since 2010 tasked marshals to identify passengers who raise flags because of travel histories or other factors and conduct secret observations of their actions - including behavior as common as sweating heavily or using the restroom repeatedly - as they fly between U.S. destinations.

The Boston Globe first revealed the existence of the Quiet Skies program on Sunday. In response to questions, TSA spokesman James Gregory offered more details of the program's origins and goals, comparing it to other law enforcement activities that ask officers to closely monitor individuals or areas vulnerable to crime.

"We are no different than the cop on the corner who is placed there because there is an increased possibility that something might happen," Gregory said. "When you're in a tube at 30,000 feet . . . it makes sense to put someone there."

The TSA declined to provide complete information on how individuals are selected for Quiet Skies and how the program works.

According to the TSA, the program used travel records and other factors to identify passengers who will be subject to additional checks at airports and, sometimes, be observed in flight by air marshals who report on their activities to the agency.

The initiative raises new questions about the privacy of ordinary Americans as they go about routine travel within the United States and about the broad net cast by law enforcement as it seeks to keep air travel safe.

Gregory said the program did not single out passengers based on race or religion and should not be considered surveillance because the agency does not, for example, listen to passengers' calls or follow flagged individuals around airports.

But during in-flight observation of people who are tagged as Quiet Skies passengers, marshals use an agency checklist to record passenger behavior: Did he or she sleep during the flight? Did he or she use a cellphone? Look around erratically?

"The program analyzes information on a passenger's travel patterns while taking the whole picture into account," Gregory said, adding "an additional line of defense to aviation security."

"If that person does all that stuff, and the airplane lands safely and they move on, the behavior will be noted, but they will not be approached or apprehended," Gregory said.

He declined to say whether the program has resulted in arrests or disruption of any criminal plots.

Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, called on the TSA to provide more information about the program to passengers.

"Such surveillance not only makes no sense, it is a big waste of taxpayer money and raises a number of constitutional questions," he said. "These concerns and the need for transparency 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."

The TSA, which was created soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, screens on average more than 2 million passengers a day.

While the agency is tasked with a weighty public safety mission, it has at times been publicly rebuked for being intrusive and abusive at airport checkpoints. It has been accused of doing little to enhance security while subjecting passengers to searches or questioning.

In 2015, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that undercover agents were able to slip fake bombs past TSA screeners about 95 percent of the time. A year later, the flying public was in an uproar over long lines to move through security screening.

But TSA officials have said that ensuring public safety while keeping passengers moving has made their work difficult.

"We have a no-fail mission," former TSA administrator Peter Neffinger told Congress in 2015.

The agency has also been criticized for its treatment of Muslims and other minorities who have complained of being profiled while traveling.

Earlier this year, media reports revealed that the agency had compiled a secret list of unruly passengers.

Passengers may be selected for Quiet Skies screening because of their affiliation with someone on the government's no-fly list or other databases aimed at preventing terrorist attacks.

"This program raises a whole host of civil liberties and profiling concerns," said Faiza Patel, co-director of the New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.

Critics say the TSA's databases are overly broad and include incorrect information.

The no-fly list, for example, grew from about 16 people in September 2001 to 64,000 people in 2014.

But Patel, an attorney, said that law enforcement officials are generally free to surveil individuals as long as they do not do so based on criteria such as ethnicity.
---
The Washington Post's Fredrick Kunkle contributed to this report.
​

FYI your OP needs personal comment , not just copy n paste.

Also needs a link that doesn't go to "Error".

 

[Vastator]

TSA is what failed security guards do.

It’s minority job placement.

 

[Pogo]

If an air marshal wants to OBSERVE me as I fidget in my
airplane seat-----FINE WITH ME. I hope he is armed---
with something that does not put holes in the plane

I dunno, people observing me who are armed just give me the goddam creeps.

 

[pismoe]

doesn't bother me , Air Marshals know what they are doing and anyway , a properly concealed gun is never seen or suspected on airplanes or in Church Pogo .

 

[irosie91]

If an air marshal wants to OBSERVE me as I fidget in my
airplane seat-----FINE WITH ME. I hope he is armed---
with something that does not put holes in the plane

I dunno, people observing me who are armed just give me the goddam creeps.

guilty conscience?

 

[Pogo]

If an air marshal wants to OBSERVE me as I fidget in my
airplane seat-----FINE WITH ME. I hope he is armed---
with something that does not put holes in the plane

I dunno, people observing me who are armed just give me the goddam creeps.

guilty conscience?

Bitter experience. And deep distrust of the attitude that goes with it.

 

[HenryBHough]

I frequently fly to do some volunteer technical work for non-profit broadcasters. Almost always I have a tangle of wires and various electronic parts and "black boxes" in my luggage....both checked and hand-carried.

Also I generally carry 2-4 apples with me (these are domestic flights so no restrictions apply).

Guess which gets TSA panties in a wad?

Right. There's something about apples that perks up their little ears!

 

[Asclepias]

Worked with this Black lady that was biracial. Every single time she flew she got pulled out of line for a "random" pat down. TSA always asked her if she was a Muslim even though her name was white american as could be. Why were they profiling her? Because she looked like she could be Arabic.

100% of 9/11 terrorists were Arabic.

80% of all terrorists are white.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I never fly commercially. Haven't since 1992.

Doesn't that make your arms tired?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I frequently fly to do some volunteer technical work for non-profit broadcasters. Almost always I have a tangle of wires and various electronic parts and "black boxes" in my luggage....both checked and hand-carried.

Also I generally carry 2-4 apples with me (these are domestic flights so no restrictions apply).

Guess which gets TSA panties in a wad?

Right. There's something about apples that perks up their little ears!

I guess you have never heard of agriculture inspections.

How do you think the Mediterranean fruit fly managed to get to California? No one bought it a first class seat.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

TSA is what failed security guards do.

It’s minority job placement.

Yes, my daughter worked for TSA for three years. She is as white as a sheet of notebook paper, as were most of her colleagues.

Why do you morons persist with this racist mantra?

 

[OldLady]

I hate to fly. And it shows. Too much of a PITA.

I'll drive if I can, always.

When I read this, the first thing I thought of was a friend of mine so terrified of flying that she paces, sweats, swears and drinks heavily prior to boarding. lol She's on a list somewhere.

I really don't see the problem here. If they aren't arresting anyone for acting nervous, just keeping an eye on them, what in hell is the problem? They are keeping us safe; it's their job.

 

[blastoff]

I don’t care if an armed Marshall is paying attention to me or anyone else on a flight, but if I’m on a flight that needs an armed Marshall I sure hope one is onboard.

 

[Pogo]

I hate to fly. And it shows. Too much of a PITA.

I'll drive if I can, always.

When I read this, the first thing I thought of was a friend of mine so terrified of flying that she paces, sweats, swears and drinks heavily prior to boarding. lol She's on a list somewhere.

I really don't see the problem here. If they aren't arresting anyone for acting nervous, just keeping an eye on them, what in hell is the problem? They are keeping us safe; it's their job.

I have no fear of flying as such; that part is fine. I don't pace, fret, drink or worry. It's just all the hassle of (a) getting to the airport, which has nothing to do with where I'm going... (b) hanging around for an eternity waiting, in lines or in a lobby blaring a TV I don't want.... (c) hanging around on the tarmac going nowhere, hot and surrounded by body heat.... (d) the crying toddler that never should have been brought aboard that always finds the seat right behind me..... (e) the obnoxious fat fuck that invariably finds the seat in front of me and insists on using the knee-crushing "recline" function that ensures once we do get off I'll be barely able to walk.... (f) hanging around waiting for a robot machine to spit out my luggage, if I was forced to bring any, if it's still intact (and there).... (g) looking around for yet another transportation shuttle to get me where I was originally going in the first place, having been gouged on both ends..... and oh yes (h) the TSA and their strip search X-ray Men metal detector fantasies, almost forgot about that. And THEN --- (i) once I do get there I'm helpless to get around and have to depend on cabs and shuttles because I don't have my car.

You have to understand I've been on a lot of planes (fun fact: the first time I boarded a commercial airline flight, the President of the United States was Harry Truman). At one point I just told the company, don't buy me a ticket, just pay me what you would have paid the airline, and I'll drive. And I pocket the difference because a lot of places if not most I can drive it for far less. Fatter o' mact for an example if the destination is Nashville -- a bit over 300 miles -- I can get in the car and drive to where I'm going faster than I can take a plane there, just because of all that bullshit downtime getting to and from the flight.

Doesn't always work though. One time they sent me to Honolulu.

Nothing you can do without the bridge being finished. I didn't mind being in the air for seven hours (may have even used the rest room) as much as having to suffer the indignity of changing planes in the George Bush International Airport.


Oh I've been in a near-midair-collision too. It looked just like this one at 6:35.... I got to watch it out the portside window.

​

 

[Pogo]

I don’t care if an armed Marshall is paying attention to me or anyone else on a flight, but if I’m on a flight that needs an armed Marshall I sure hope one is onboard.

I figure if I'm on a flight that needs an armed marshall I'm on the wrong planet.

 

[pismoe]

i haven't flown since about 2011 , won't do it again but there is no particular reason , just won't do it !!

 

[Pogo]

I frequently fly to do some volunteer technical work for non-profit broadcasters. Almost always I have a tangle of wires and various electronic parts and "black boxes" in my luggage....both checked and hand-carried.

Also I generally carry 2-4 apples with me (these are domestic flights so no restrictions apply).

Guess which gets TSA panties in a wad?

Right. There's something about apples that perks up their little ears!

So one time I'm flying to Phoenix. The desert, right? As I'm lumbering through security on the way out, TSA predictably tells me I have to toss the bottle of water I'm drinking, which I do. Then they say not a word about the two full liters of water I have packed in my carry-on. Goes right through.

Then I gets to the hotel in Phoenix where I'm greeted with two more liter bottles of water, compliments of the hotel.

Do this enough times and sometimes it just works out.

I too travel with various electronics beyond the laptop and they've never been questioned either, even though I have had the whole luggage humpty-dumpty routine, presumably looking for Dat Eebil Debbil toothpaste.

 

[OldLady]

I hate to fly. And it shows. Too much of a PITA.

I'll drive if I can, always.

When I read this, the first thing I thought of was a friend of mine so terrified of flying that she paces, sweats, swears and drinks heavily prior to boarding. lol She's on a list somewhere.

I really don't see the problem here. If they aren't arresting anyone for acting nervous, just keeping an eye on them, what in hell is the problem? They are keeping us safe; it's their job.

I have no fear of flying as such; that part is fine. I don't pace, fret, drink or worry. It's just all the hassle of (a) getting to the airport, which has nothing to do with where I'm going... (b) hanging around for an eternity waiting, in lines or in a lobby blaring a TV I don't want.... (c) hanging around on the tarmac going nowhere, hot and surrounded by body heat.... (d) the crying toddler that never should have been brought aboard that always finds the seat right behind me..... (e) the obnoxious fat fuck that invariably finds the seat in front of me and insists on using the knee-crushing "recline" function that ensures once we do get off I'll be barely able to walk.... (f) hanging around waiting for a robot machine to spit out my luggage, if I was forced to bring any, if it's still intact (and there).... (g) looking around for yet another transportation shuttle to get me where I was originally going in the first place, having been gouged on both ends..... and oh yes (h) the TSA and their strip search X-ray Men metal detector fantasies, almost forgot about that. And THEN --- (i) once I do get there I'm helpless to get around and have to depend on cabs and shuttles because I don't have my car.

You have to understand I've been on a lot of planes. At one point I just told the company, don't buy me a ticket, just pay me what you would have paid the airline, and I'll drive. And I pocket the difference because a lot of places if not most I can drive it for far less. Fatter o' mact for an example if the destination is Nashville -- a bit over 300 miles -- I can get in the car and drive to where I'm going faster than I can take a plane there, just because of all that bullshit downtime getting to and from the flight.

Doesn't always work though. One time they sent me to Honolulu.

Nothing you can do without the bridge being finished. I didn't mind being in the air for seven hours (may have even used the rest room) as much as having to suffer the indignity of changing planes in the George Bush International Airport.


Oh I've been in a near-midair-collision too. It looked just like this one at 6:35.... I got to watch it out the portside window.

​

Oh, Pogo, you're so good at describing the joys of flying..