The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in a joint announcement with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), said the Biden administration weaponized the TSA against “innocent American citizens.” The DHS said an internal investigation uncovered “widespread abuses” committed by Biden administration officials. “These officials, under the direction and leadership of former Biden TSA Administrator David Pekoske, systematically watchlisted and denied boarding to those who exercised their individual rights and resisted mask mandates on airplanes nearly six months after the CDC relaxed its indoor mask mandate,” the statement read. “In an unprecedented act, the Biden TSA then used the January 6, 2021, protests as an excuse to target several dozen U.S. citizens. These Americans were watchlisted and harassed despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal behavior,” it continued. “DHS uncovered that the Biden administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign of putting U.S. citizens on high-severity, no-fly lists for nonviolent political dissent,” DHS wrote on social media. “Biden’s TSA abused their authority to punish Americans for reasons ‘clearly unrelated to transportation security,’ including 280 individuals allegedly involved in the January 6 Capitol protests and 19 that merely resisted mask mandates,” it continued. “@Sec_Noem is referring this case to @TheJusticeDept and Congress for further investigation. President Trump is making good on his promise to end the weaponization of government against Americans,” it added. This was a revolting, targeted abuse toward the American people courtesy of Biden and his TSA Administrator, David Pekoske. DHS uncovered that the Biden administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign of putting U.S. citizens on high-severity, no-fly lists for nonviolent… pic.twitter.com/6AwziyowM1 — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 30, 2025 More from the joint announcement: This targeted campaign of harassment continued through June 2021, six months after the events in question, despite no clear or immediate threat to aviation security. The campaign also coincided with hundreds of January 6th protestors being locked away by the Biden Department of Justice. These Biden-era officials continued to target Americans even after career intelligence officials and even Biden’s TSA Chief Privacy Officer sounded the alarm over these abusive actions. The Biden-era TSA’s actions demonstrate clear political bias. For example, these officials chose NOT to flag individuals who attacked law enforcement, burned down cities, and destroyed property during the widespread and violent George Floyd protests in 2020. During this abuse of power, some TSA officials raised serious concerns about these privacy violations and political targeting. They were ignored. The TSA administrator has legal authority to prevent an individual from boarding an aircraft, task Federal Air Marshals with surveilling an individual, or place them on a watchlist, but it is only intended to be used to track and prevent dangerous criminals and terrorists from carrying out attacks on Americans. Clearly, those targeted by Administrator Pekoske posed no such threat. These revelations come after another internal investigation discovered that the TSA conducted unwarranted surveillance on now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard under the Quiet Skies program. At the same time, it granted special privileges to Bill Shaheen, the husband of Democratic New Hampshire Senator, Jeanne Shaheen, who traveled with a Known or Suspected Terrorist multiple times. According to journalist Matt Taibbi, the Quiet Skies program was also used to spy on three Republican members of Congress. My Senate Testimony on Surveillance Americans have become numb to surveillance, and eliminating Quiet Skies is hopefully just a start.https://t.co/nEnPhn0f4M pic.twitter.com/3javuXd6FE — Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 30, 2025 Taibbi writes in Racket News: 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.”