Reports have surfaced that the Biden administration’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been playing fast and loose with watchlists, targeting Americans over political disagreements rather than genuine security threats, as KATU reports.
Under the Biden administration, the TSA placed dozens of Americans on watchlists and no-fly lists—tools typically reserved for suspected terrorists—due to their involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots or refusal to comply with COVID-19 mask mandates, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal investigation reported by Fox News Digital.
Let’s rewind to early 2021, when tensions were already sky-high after the Capitol protests on January 6.
A staggering 280 individuals allegedly tied to those protests were slapped onto TSA watchlists, with five of them grounded by no-fly designations.
Curiously, at least two of those listed weren’t even at the Capitol that day, including a federal air marshal’s wife and a National Guardsman deployed for Biden’s inauguration—hardly the profile of aviation risks.
Most of these individuals were removed from the lists by June 28, 2021, though many charged in connection with the protests remained flagged until cleared, raising questions about due process.
Fast forward to August 2021, when the TSA extended a mask requirement for public transportation, including airports and commercial flights, lasting until mid-March 2022.
In September 2021, the TSA launched “Operation Freedom to Breathe,” targeting mask non-compliance, which led to 19 Americans being added to watchlists, over half of them barred from flying.
At least 11 of those individuals stayed on the lists until the national mask mandate ended in April 2022, even as airlines like Delta and United banned nearly 1,900 and over 800 passengers, respectively, for similar refusals, per Bloomberg reports.
Internal TSA communications revealed even agency leaders weren’t fully on board, with one unnamed official cautioning, “I hope we don’t end up adding them on just the arrest.”
That hesitation seems warranted, given the TSA relied on an academic database from George Washington University’s Program of Extremism and social media posts—rather than hard FBI or police data—to decide who got flagged.
With 5,981 unruly passenger incidents reported by airlines in 2021, 72% tied to mask disputes per the Federal Aviation Administration, one wonders if the TSA was more interested in compliance than actual security.
The DHS investigation didn’t mince words, concluding that the Biden administration targeted Americans with no clear aviation security risk, seemingly driven by political differences.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t hold back on X, stating, “Biden’s TSA Administrator [David] Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting.” Well, if the shoe fits, it’s a clunky one—using tools meant for terrorists against citizens over policy disagreements smacks of overreach, not protection.
As Noem referred the findings to the Department of Justice and Congress, and with the National News Desk reaching out to DHS for comment, it’s clear this story is far from a final boarding call—Americans deserve answers on how dissent became a ticket to a watchlist.
