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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security.

The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel.

"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. 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," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

GABBARD SLAMS 'POLITICALLY MOTIVATED' SURVEILLANCE AS EFFORT TO 'INTIMIDATE' HER FOLLOWING CRITICISM OF HARRIS

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem looks on at the Coast Guard Academy Commencement in New London, Connecticut, U.S. May 21, 2025.  

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem looks on at the Coast Guard Academy Commencement in New London, Connecticut, U.S. May 21, 2025.   ( REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin)

DHS says that the list of exemptions of people who avoid "security policies" included "foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and favored journalists."

The program that started in 2010 was seen as a terror prevention method, and it faced escalating scrutiny from the left and right, including groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

"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 traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans," Noem continued.

FEDERAL AIR MARSHALS SURVEILLED TRUMP CABINET MEMBER GABBARD IN 2024, RAND PAUL SAYS

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Travelers make their way through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on May 24, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. AAA projects travelers going 50 miles or more this Memorial Day holiday will be almost 44 million people, a number not seen since 2005. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

In 2018, the ACLU asked the Transportation Security Administration for more information about the program.

"The TSA is engaging in covert surveillance of travelers and raising a host of disturbing questions in the process. While the program’s existence is now public, the TSA has kept nearly everything else about the program secret," Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a 2018 news release.

"Travelers deserve to know how this surveillance is being implemented, what its consequences are for Americans, and for how long the TSA is retaining the information it gathers. What we’ve seen so far is troubling, which is why we’re demanding that the TSA hand over records it’s been hiding from the public. This is a much needed step towards transparency and accountability for an agency with a track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques, such as ‘behavior detection,’ to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong," he added.

REPUBLICANS LOOK TO ABOLISH TSA IN FAVOR OF PRIVATE SECURITY AT AIRPORTS

Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, is flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Tuesday, March 25. All three answered questions about the Signal text chain leak. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

DHS pointed out a specific situation in which William Shaheen, the husband of New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, was removed from the list after reaching out to the former head of TSA during the Biden administration in 2023, according to CBS News. DHS said that he "traveled with a known or suspected terrorist" three times.

The senator's office confirmed to CBS News she had reached out to TSA after her husband dealt with intense security obstacles while flying, but was unaware of any specific lists her husband was or was not on. The outlet reported that he was flying with an attorney was subject of the terrorism flag. 

The department also cited Tulsi Gabbard’s past placement on the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Shaheen’s office for comment.

Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to Cameron.Arcand@Fox.com and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand