The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently raised concerns about alleged corruption within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The DHS has accused a veteran Democratic senator of leveraging her political influence to have her husband removed from a watchlist, despite allegations that he had flown with a "known or suspected terrorist."
The individual in question is William "Billy" Shaheen, husband of New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. According to a statement from the DHS, Billy Shaheen "traveled with a known or suspected terrorist three times in a single year."
The Trump administration has pointed to evidence that suggests a politicization of the TSA's watchlisting program under the Biden administration. The DHS claims that this evidence includes documents, correspondence, and timelines that reveal an inconsistent application of the Silent Partners Quiet Skies and watchlisting programs.
The DHS alleges that these programs have been manipulated to favor politically aligned friends and family, compromising the security of the American people.
The DHS further alleges that Senator Shaheen "directly lobbied" former TSA administrator David Pekoske, who subsequently "gave repeated, explicit direction" to remove Billy Shaheen from the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list.
In response to these allegations, a spokesperson for Senator Shaheen told Fox News Digital, "Senator Shaheen contacted the Transportation Security Administration after her husband was subjected to several extensive, invasive and degrading searches at airport checkpoints. Senator Shaheen sought to understand the nature and cause of these searches.
Any suggestion that the Senators husband was supposedly included on a Quiet Skies list is news to her and had never been raised before this week. Nor was she aware of any action taken following her call to remove him from such a list."
The DHS maintains that Pekoske granted Billy Shaheen a blanket Silent Partners Quiet Skies exemption, despite him having flown with a Known or Suspected Terrorist on three occasions. The DHS also noted that many other Americans, including Tulsi Gabbard, appointed by President Donald Trump as his director of national intelligence during his second term, were placed on the Silent Partners Quiet Skies list with little to no visibility, awareness, explanation, or oversight.
Billy Shaheen, a Lebanese American attorney, was not the only high-profile individual placed on this exclusion list, according to the Trump administration. The list also allegedly included members of foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and journalists. The DHS stated that Billy Shaheens "blanket exemption has since been revoked."
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated, "It is clear that this program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration weaponized against its political foes and to benefit their well-heeled friends. This program should have been about the equal application of security, instead it was corrupted to be about political targeting. The Trump Administration will restore the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans, including aviation screening."
The DHS has criticized the program for its lack of measurable security impact and its burden on the American traveler.
According to the DHS's timeline, Billy Shaheen was flagged as a "TSA Random Selectee" on his flights from Boston Logan International Airport to Washington-Reagan International Airport and then from Washington Dulles International Airport back to Boston on July 20, 2023. He was flagged as a co-traveler with a Known or Suspected Terrorist (KST), prompting Senator Shaheens office to inquire about the enhanced screening he received on these flights.
Billy Shaheen was flagged a second time as a co-traveler of a known or suspected terrorist on Oct. 18, 2023. Following this, Senator Shaheen met with Pekoske about her husband "being on a watchlist." However, the DHS noted that the "TSA did not disclose any information on watchlisting."
On Oct. 20, 2023, Nancy Nykamp, then-assistant administrator for intelligence and analysis, approved Billy Shaheen to be added to the "Secure Flight Exclusion List." This meant that he was "excluded from any future TSA Random Selectee designation, and Rules-based Selectee designation, such as Quiet Skies, Association Based Rule Selectee designation, or Silent Partner Selectee designation," according to the Trump administration. Nykamp left the TSA in March 2025.
Billy Shaheen remained on the Secure Flight Exclusion List for 18 months until the current TSA leadership removed him.
Senator Shaheen, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced in March that she will not seek re-election in 2026. However, her daughter, Stefany Shaheen, recently announced her candidacy for a key House seat.
During a local radio interview, Stefany Shaheen addressed the allegations against her father, stating, "It clearly had to be a misunderstanding. My father is a patriot. Everyone who knows him knows how patriotic he is. He is a former Army captain, he was a U.S. Attorney, he's been a judge for 17 years, he's been a lawyer for his entire professional life, so there was clearly a misunderstanding here, and I think the question was just how to get to the bottom of how the misunderstanding started."
She further emphasized her father's longstanding legal career and veteran status, adding, "I don't think there was anything inappropriate here. There was certainly just an attempt to get to the bottom of where this misunderstanding started."
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