A Cabinet Member Watched by Her Own Government
In a shocking revelation, Senator Rand Paul confirmed that federal air marshals tracked and reported on Tulsi Gabbard, now the Director of National Intelligence, during her domestic flights in 2024. The surveillance, conducted under the TSA’s “Quiet Skies” watchlist, reportedly included notes on her appearance and even how many electronic devices she carried. Paul said the documents he obtained from the Department of Homeland Security showed Gabbard was watched closely as she traveled across the country during the Biden administration.
“These documents confirm our suspicions,” Paul said during a Senate hearing. “Federal air marshals surveilled the now-director of national intelligence during domestic flights in 2024, reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using.”
The surveillance occurred while Gabbard was a prominent critic of the Biden administration and was already being considered for a key role in the incoming Trump cabinet.
Gabbard’s Response: “Forever Looking Over My Shoulder”
Gabbard described the experience as emotionally damaging and deeply disturbing. In a television appearance on Fox’s One Nation, she explained what it was like realizing she was under constant government surveillance.
“As I was traveling, I ended up in 30 to 45 minutes of going through screening every time I would go to the airport to fly,” she said. “I noticed air marshals, I noticed K-9 teams. There were things that I saw and noticed that were highly unusual.”
She also spoke about the long-term psychological impact. “The deepest pain and harm and stress that’s been caused by this is that, forever going forward, I will always be looking over my shoulder, wondering if and how my government is surveilling me.”
Later, in a post on the social media platform X, she said the government had been “weaponized” against her. “Under the flimsy guise of ‘domestic terrorism,’ federal law enforcement and intelligence were repeatedly weaponized against me and other Americans who exercised our First Amendment rights in speaking out against the Biden administration’s policies and therefore deemed a threat to their power.”
What Is the “Quiet Skies” Program?
The TSA’s “Quiet Skies” program, created in 2010, was intended to identify individuals for enhanced screening based on behavior patterns and travel data. While not officially a terrorist watchlist, the program allows federal air marshals to shadow American citizens without their knowledge and report on minor observations.
Critics have long argued that the program lacks transparency and poses a threat to civil liberties. Even the TSA has acknowledged that no terrorists have ever been caught through “Quiet Skies.”
“This program… has not caught a single terrorist,” Gabbard said during an appearance on The Ingraham Angle. “Instead, what is continuing to happen, so long as this program continues, is, every single day, 40 or 50 federal air marshals are tasked with surveilling everyday Americans for no purpose.”
A Political Backlash for Criticizing Kamala Harris?
Gabbard believes the surveillance began after a July 2024 appearance on The Ingraham Angle, where she questioned Kamala Harris’s leadership just days after Harris became the Democratic nominee.
“I think they were trying to intimidate me,” she said. “But also, they were trying to really create this chilling effect, probably knowing that I wouldn’t stay silent about it and send a message out to people that if you go and criticize then-Vice President Kamala Harris… you too would face the consequences.”
The Biden administration has not explained why Gabbard was added to the list. CNN reported in November 2024 that Gabbard was briefly placed on the watchlist, but was removed after Trump’s election victory. TSA told the outlet that the program is not officially a terrorist watchlist, but rather a security program based on behavioral analysis.
Why Tulsi Left the Democratic Party
The tension between Gabbard and her former party has been building for years. In October 2022, she announced her decision to leave the Democratic Party, publishing a lengthy statement that criticized its leadership and direction.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party,” she wrote, “that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism… and weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents.”
She accused Democratic leaders of destroying civil liberties, ignoring the Constitution, and even putting the country on the brink of nuclear war. “The pro-war Democratic Party has led us to the brink of nuclear war… President Biden and Congress… irresponsibly refuse to use their power to protect the safety of our country.”
Her decision to leave the party was driven not only by her concerns over foreign policy and civil liberties, but also by her growing frustration with what she called the Democrats’ hostility toward people of faith, women, parents, and law-abiding citizens.
The Clinton Smear and the Russia Accusation
Gabbard’s break with the Democratic establishment can be traced back even further. In 2019, Hillary Clinton suggested that Gabbard was a Russian asset being groomed to run as a third-party candidate. Although Clinton did not name her directly, the implication was clear.
Gabbard responded with a scathing rebuke. “Thank you, Hillary Clinton,” she posted. “You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long… it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.”
This accusation triggered widespread media coverage and forced Gabbard further into the role of outsider within her own party. The moment marked a turning point in her public relationship with the Democratic leadership.
A Consistent Pattern of Retaliation
The air marshal surveillance in 2024 is not the first time Gabbard has been punished for expressing dissent. In 2022, she was placed on a Ukrainian blacklist for allegedly spreading “Russian propaganda.” Others on the list included Rand Paul, Glenn Greenwald, and various military experts.
Gabbard responded by calling the blacklist proof of authoritarianism. “This is happening while the Ukrainian president is silencing dissenting voices, banning opposition parties, taking over national media, and now turning his sights on Americans,” she said.
From political smears to secret surveillance, Gabbard has consistently faced pushback for questioning powerful institutions. Now, as a member of President Trump’s cabinet, she is pledging to reform the intelligence community from within.
“As DNI, I am focused every day on ending the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” she wrote. “We must restore our civil liberties and ensure that the government works for the people—not for political elites.”
The revelations about Gabbard’s placement on a government watchlist during an election year have sparked concern about civil liberties, government overreach, and political retaliation.
Senator Paul said this may just be the beginning. “Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case,” he warned. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem agreed that the department had been involved in inappropriate censorship and surveillance activities, and said efforts were underway to reform these practices.
