WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is pressing the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General to immediately conduct oversight of Federal Air Marshals Service surveillance programs, as it revealed another whistleblower had come forward more than two years ago to express concern about the programs.
In July 2021, a Federal Air Marshal, represented by Empower Oversight, discovered that his wife had been improperly labeled a “domestic terrorist” and was targeted for “Special Mission Coverage” by the Federal Air Marshals Service, simply because she attended President Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech at the ellipse. She was not at the U.S. Capitol that day.
Empower Oversight’s client made protected disclosures about the false information and improper surveillance to his supervisor but was essentially told to leave it alone. Since Empower Oversight’s client made protected disclosures, the DHS IG’s office, the Office of Special Counsel, the FBI, and the Transportation Security Administration have all been notified on different occasions about the situation, yet nothing appears to have been addressed.
Empower Oversight president, Tristan Leavitt, wrote in a letter to the Inspector General, “Now that additional FAMS whistleblowers have disclosed that the TSA is targeting Tulsi Gabbard under the controversial Quiet Skies program, the consequences of failing to detect and deter FAMS’ surveillance abuses has become clear. Those added to Quiet Skies receive the same level of surveillance as Special Mission coverage.”
Empower Oversight’s client wrote in his protected disclosure that his wife “suffered adverse actions by being unable to freely travel without undue duress, delays in checking in, delays in processing through security and delays in boarding. Other family members () were also listed as co-travelers and subjected to the same delays and searches.” The client also wrote that there was one FAM team to surveil his wife and a separate team to surveil the family.
In its letter to the DHS IG, Leavitt also wrote that the “Air Marshal National Counsel has publicized the broader issue, asking TSA to cease and desist…yet to date, your office (DHS IG), has provided no public accounting of what it has done with the whistleblower disclosures it received from our client.”
To see the complete letter to the DHS IG, click here.