The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday the end of the Quiet Skies Program, which was enacted to surveil Americans who may have connection with terrorists.

The press release declaring the program’s end opens with the statement: “The Quiet Skies Program is a redundant, corrupted program that costs US taxpayers $200 million a year.”

“The program, under the guise of ‘national security,’ was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies. TSA will continue performing important vetting functions tied to legitimate commercial aviation security threats to both ensure the safety of the American traveler and uphold its statutory obligations,” the release stated.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem commented on the program’s failure, which failed to stop a single terrorist attack. She is also calling for Congress to investigate the program’s history.

“It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends,” Noem wrote. “I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security.”

Noem further stated:

“TSA’s critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans.”

US Senator Rand Paul wrote in a piece for the American Conservative his view on the tenure of the Quiet Skies Program and applauded its end. The program provokes certain philosophical questions relating to liberty in the US.

“This is about much more than the Transportation Security Administration or air travel,” Rand wrote. “It’s about the fundamental relationship between the citizen and the state. Are Americans free to move, speak, associate, and protest without being tracked, followed, and reported on by their own government?”

The Boston Globe wrote a story in 2018 after obtaining documents from the TSA outlining certain guidelines for airport surveillance of flyers conducted by Air Marshals, including certain types of behaviors and actions that are not explicitly linked to terrorism. (See image from Boston Globe report below):