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Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, last week, Secretary Noem ended a program that is called the Quiet Skies Program. It is a program that was well-intended when it was set up, but the Biden administration weaponized it to target its opposition, including the now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Quiet Skies was supposed to track American airline travelers who had prior contact with known or suspected terrorists.

You can have no argument with that intent to make sure that air travel is safe, but instead it has been revealed that the Biden administration's Transportation Security Administration allegedly tracked U.S. citizens based upon nine nonsecurity-related considerations.

As just one example, whistleblowers told my office, some who were merely present at a rally on January 6, 2021, with President Trump were added to the Quiet Skies' list of targeting.

In another allegation, a woman was accused of invading the Capitol on January 6 and later added to the Quiet Skies. The woman was disabled and couldn't physically engage in those actions.

Now, fortunately, Secretary Noem shut down Quiet Skies to end this weaponization, and that should be music to everybody's ears.

In August 2024, I wrote to Biden's Transportation Security Administration questioning their abuse of this authority under this Quiet Skies Program. I did not get sufficient answers from the previous administration.

I will continue my oversight to learn the full truth about the Quiet Skies Program, and I appreciate Secretary Noem and Director Gabbard's leadership as my office works with them on the oversight request.

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