(José Niño, Headline USA) When Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s, D-NH, husband, William Shaheen, was flagged by a government travel watchlist in 2023, a single phone call to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) swiftly removed him from additional scrutiny, CBS News reported on Tuesday.
According to sources familiar with the situation, William Shaheen, a Lebanese-American attorney and active member of the Arab-American community, was placed on the TSA’s “Quiet Skies” surveillance program after his travel profile was flagged in October 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel.
CBS’s report comes as the Trump administration is set to discontinue the Quiet Skies program, which was used against Trump’s National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard when she was a citizen under the Biden administration. Unlike Sen. Shaheen, Gabbard wasn’t removed from the watchlist until Biden was ousted.
The watchlist was also used against an untold number of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protestors after that event.
🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨
President Donald Trump plans to shut down the Quiet Skies terror surveillance program, according to reports.
The Quiet Skies program, also known as SSSS, was used by the Biden regime to target its political opposition.
As I exclusively reported, Tulsi Gabbard… pic.twitter.com/I1PEfwhSei
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) June 5, 2025
The Quiet Skies program, which began in 2010, uses analysts and undercover air marshals to monitor travelers based on suspicious patterns, behaviors, and data, even if they are not suspected of committing a crime.
After Sen. Shaheen contacted then-TSA Administrator David Pekoske, her husband was removed from the list of people subjected to additional scrutiny. Instead, William Shaheen was placed on the “secure flight exclusion list,” which exempted him from any future advanced screening, including random TSA checks, according to two sources cited by CBS News.
The episode unfolded during a period of heightened security. In July 2023, William Shaheen was pulled aside for extra screening at Boston airport before two flights, which officials initially attributed to random selection.
Months later, his travel companion was flagged as a “known or suspected terrorist” by the FBI, prompting further surveillance.
A spokesperson for Senator Shaheen told CBS News she reached out to TSA after her husband endured “several extensive, invasive and degrading searches at airport checkpoints” and was looking to understand what provoked this security concern.
The spokesperson added that the senator was unaware William Shaheen was being monitored under Quiet Skies or that he received preferential treatment afterward.
The decision to shield a senator’s spouse from enhanced screening is highly unusual in a system designed to operate without political interference. As CBS News notes, most Americans must fight for years to be removed from such lists, sometimes by being mired in protracted legal battles.
Sen. Shaheen, the leading Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, recently announced she will not seek re-election in 2026.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
