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posted by chromas on Monday July 30 2018, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the security-theater-vs-the-fourth dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

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.

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.

Source: http://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/graphics/2018/07/tsa-quiet-skies/?p1=HP_SpecialTSA [Ed Note: Not available for all browser modes]

Also at CNN, Fortune, The Verge, and The Hill.


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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 30 2018, @09:15PM (1 child)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday July 30 2018, @09:15PM (#714943) Journal

    That's because your freedoms are NOT unlimited. Never have been. Freedoms and rights are always paired against obligations and responsibilities, and far too many people feel they should have all of the former and none of the latter.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 30 2018, @09:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 30 2018, @09:33PM (#714951)

    Yes I comprehend the reasons, but as should be evident by now most of those "reasons" are bullshit. Free speech zones around political speeches? The whole POINT of protesting is to be visible and seen, when a politician can restrict the protesters freedom of speech and bodily location, well I dunno but that seems quite authoritarian to me. TSA? Gimme a break, you should realize what a joke that is.

    Ditto for the vast number of these exceptions, and your little quip about people wanting freedom without responsibility is just a straw man bullshit argument. Responsibility is enforced by law, did you abuse your freedoms to violate someone else's? Jail for you! The US has gone down the police state route, do you not understand this yet?