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Thread: Quiet Skies: The TSA's latest real time surveillance grid that watches everybody

  1. #1

    Exclamation Quiet Skies: The TSA's latest real time surveillance grid that watches everybody

    And of course, not a $#@! is given...


    Welcome to the Quiet Skies

    https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/na...a-quiet-skies/

    By Jana Winter

    July 28, 2018

    Federal air marshals have begun following ordinary US citizens not suspected of a crime or on any terrorist watch list and collecting extensive information about their movements and behavior under a new domestic surveillance program that is drawing criticism from within the agency.

    The previously undisclosed program, called “Quiet Skies,” specifically targets travelers who “are not under investigation by any agency and are not in the Terrorist Screening Data Base,” according to a Transportation Security Administration bulletin in March.

    The internal bulletin describes the program’s goal as thwarting threats to commercial aircraft “posed by unknown or partially known terrorists,” and gives the agency broad discretion over which air travelers to focus on and how closely they are tracked.

    But some air marshals, in interviews and internal communications shared with the Globe, say the program has them tasked with shadowing travelers who appear to pose no real threat — a businesswoman who happened to have traveled through a Mideast hot spot, in one case; a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, in another; a fellow federal law enforcement officer, in a third.

    It is a time-consuming and costly assignment, they say, which saps their ability to do more vital law enforcement work.

    TSA officials, in a written statement to the Globe, broadly defended the agency’s efforts to deter potential acts of terror. But the agency declined to discuss whether Quiet Skies has intercepted any threats, or even to confirm that the program exists.

    Release of such information “would make passengers less safe,” spokesman James Gregory said in the statement.

    Already under Quiet Skies, thousands of unsuspecting Americans have been subjected to targeted airport and inflight surveillance, carried out by small teams of armed, undercover air marshals, government documents show. The teams document whether passengers fidget, use a computer, have a “jump” in their Adam’s apple or a “cold penetrating stare,” among other behaviors, according to the records.

    Air marshals note these observations — minute-by-minute — in two separate reports and send this information back to the TSA.

    All US citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for inclusion in Quiet Skies — their travel patterns and affiliations are checked and their names run against a terrorist watch list and other databases, according to agency documents.

    Explore the behavior checklist

    1. SUBJECT WAS ABNORMALLY AWARE OF SURROUNDINGS
    (If observed, check any that apply below) | Y N Unknown

    Reversing or changing directions and/or stopping while in transit through the airport
    Attempting to change appearance by changing clothes, shaving etc. while in the airport or on the plane
    Using the reflection in storefront windows to identify surveillance
    Observing the boarding gate area from afar
    Boarded last
    Observing other people who appear to be observing FAM team and/or subject

    2. SUBJECT EXHIBITED BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS
    (If observed, check any that apply below) | Y N Unknown

    3. SUBJECT’S APPEARANCE WAS DIFFERENT FROM INFORMATION PROVIDED
    (If yes, check any that apply below) | Y N Unknown

    4. SUBJECT SLEPT DURING THE FLIGHT
    (If observed, check any that apply below) | Y N Unknown

    5. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
    (Provide detailed descriptions of any electronic devices in subject’s possession in AAR) | Y N Unknown

    6. FOR DOMESTIC ARRIVALS ONLY
    (If possible, provide identifiers (license plate, vehicle description) of pick up vehicle in AAR) | Y N Unknown

    The program relies on 15 rules to screen passengers, according to a May agency bulletin, and the criteria appear broad: “rules may target” people whose travel patterns or behaviors match those of known or suspected terrorists, or people “possibly affiliated” with someone on a watch list.

    The full list of criteria for Quiet Skies screening was unavailable to the Globe, and is a mystery even to the air marshals who field the surveillance requests the program generates. TSA declined to comment.

    When someone on the Quiet Skies list is selected for surveillance, a team of air marshals is placed on the person’s next flight. The team receives a file containing a photo and basic information — such as date and place of birth — about the target, according to agency documents.

    The teams track citizens on domestic flights, to or from dozens of cities big and small — such as Boston and Harrisburg, Pa., Washington, D.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. — taking notes on whether travelers use a phone, go to the bathroom, chat with others, or change clothes, according to documents and people within the department.

    Quiet Skies represents a major departure for TSA. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the agency has traditionally placed armed air marshals on routes it considered potentially higher risk, or on flights with a passenger on a terrorist watch list. Deploying air marshals to gather intelligence on civilians not on a terrorist watch list is a new assignment, one that some air marshals say goes beyond the mandate of the US Federal Air Marshal Service. Some also worry that such domestic surveillance might be illegal. Between 2,000 and 3,000 men and women, so-called flying FAMs, work the skies.

    Since this initiative launched in March, dozens of air marshals have raised concerns about the Quiet Skies program with senior officials and colleagues, sought legal counsel, and expressed misgivings about the surveillance program, according to interviews and documents reviewed by the Globe.

    “What we are doing [in Quiet Skies] is troubling and raising some serious questions as to the validity and legality of what we are doing and how we are doing it,” one air marshal wrote in a text message to colleagues.

    The TSA, while declining to discuss details of the Quiet Skies program, did address generally how the agency pursues its work.

    “FAMs [federal air marshals] may deploy on flights in furtherance of the TSA mission to ensure the safety and security of passengers, crewmembers, and aircraft throughout the aviation sector,” spokesman James Gregory said in an e-mailed statement. “As its assessment capabilities continue to enhance, FAMS leverages multiple internal and external intelligence sources in its deployment strategy.”

    Agency documents show there are about 40 to 50 Quiet Skies passengers on domestic flights each day. On average, air marshals follow and surveil about 35 of them.

    In late May, an air marshal complained to colleagues about having just surveilled a working Southwest Airlines flight attendant as part of a Quiet Skies mission. “Cannot make this up,” the air marshal wrote in a message.

    One colleague replied: “jeez we need to have an easy way to document this nonsense. Congress needs to know that it’s gone from bad to worse.”

    Experts on civil liberties called the Quiet Skies program worrisome and potentially illegal.

    “These revelations raise profound concerns about whether TSA is conducting pervasive surveillance of travelers without any suspicion of actual wrongdoing,” said Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project.

    “If TSA is using proxies for race or religion to single out travelers for surveillance, that could violate the travelers’ constitutional rights. These concerns 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.”

    George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Quiet Skies touches on several sensitive legal issues and appears to fall into a gray area of privacy law.

    If this was about foreign citizens, the government would have considerable power. But if it’s US citizens — US citizens don’t lose their rights simply because they are in an airplane at 30,000 feet.
    — Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor


    “If this was about foreign citizens, the government would have considerable power. But if it’s US citizens — US citizens don’t lose their rights simply because they are in an airplane at 30,000 feet,” Turley said. “There may be indeed constitutional issues here depending on how restrictive or intrusive these measures are.”

    Turley, who has testified before Congress on privacy protection, said the issue could trigger a “transformative legal fight.”

    Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor chosen by President Obama in 2013 to help review foreign intelligence surveillance programs, said the program could pass legal muster if the selection criteria are sufficiently broad. But if the program targets by nationality or race, it could violate equal protection rights, Stone said.

    Asked about the legal basis for the Quiet Skies program, Gregory, the agency’s spokesman, said TSA “maintains a robust engagement with congressional committees to ensure maximum support and awareness” of its effort to keep the aviation sector safe. He declined to comment further.

    More at link...
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    "4. SUBJECT SLEPT DURING THE FLIGHT
    (If observed, check any that apply below) | Y N Unknown" It's official, you're now on a watchlist for sleeping.
    Amash>Trump

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  4. #3
    Bizarre waste of tax dollars that gets zero info of any value .
    Do something Danke

  5. #4
    Apparently the American people love being spied on. You think they would care but they don't.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  6. #5
    What we have here is a fishing expedition, focusing on randomly chosen individuals to unwarranted and illogically decided depth in the hope of hitting pay-dirt, with the emphasis on "dirt", as in filth, as in "government running amok".

    Talk about a failure of reason and logic... or perhaps the real goal is more acclimation to being violated by Themme.

    I wonder what Trump thinks of this. I know what I do.
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    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

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  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by oyarde View Post
    Bizarre waste of tax dollars that gets zero info of any value .
    What's the value of any information being collected on American people?

  8. #7
    Sounds like something right out of the Stasi playbook.
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  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    What's the value of any information being collected on American people?
    They have prevented another terrorist attack since 911, so must be working.
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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    Sounds like something right out of the Stasi playbook.
    Kind of yes , but they were actually looking for something specific .
    Do something Danke

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by oyarde View Post
    Bizarre waste of tax dollars that gets zero info of any value .
    Pretty sure all tax dollars are bizarrely wasted.

  13. #11


    At this point it seems boobus americanus will take almost anything.



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