Aviation Crashes and other FAA News

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Trump Administration Shuts Down ‘Quiet Skies’ Passenger Surveillance Program​

TSA official who took responsibility for putting Tulsi Gabbard on list is placed on leave​

—>. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...6?st=1vATQ4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noemcalled for an investigation into the program as she announced its closure on Thursday. DHS said the program cost taxpayers $200 million a year and “failed to stop a single terrorist attack.”

In a recent meeting, administration officials confronted leadership at the Transportation Security Administration over what they said was politically motivated use of the Quiet Skies program under the Biden administration, according to people familiar with the matter.

Corey Lewandowski, who has been serving as a special government employee at DHS, asked TSA staff who had been responsible for putting Gabbard in the program. Stacey Fitzmaurice, the executive assistant administrator for operations at TSA, took responsibility, some of the people said.

Fitzmaurice was subsequently put on leave and escorted out of the building, the people said.

… The program was launched in 2010, and its existence was first uncovered by the Boston Globe in 2018. Undercover U.S. air marshals travel on flights with individuals included in the program.

… Gabbard said on Fox News last month that she believes she was surveilled because she criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris. The former congresswoman was placed in the program after she attended an event at the Vatican that was organized by a European businessman who was on an F.B.I. watchlist, the New York Timesreported in January.…”