TSA secretly monitors travelers who are not on government watch lists

Federal aviation security officers have followed dozens of US travelers every day who are not on government watch lists or who are suspected of being criminals, reported The Boston Globe this week. end. Skies, "exists since 2010 as an effort to mitigate the threat" posed by unknown or partially known terrorists "after identifying people based on their travel history or other criteria. passengers and document their behavior at airports and in flight, including the frequency with which they go to the toilet, the number of hours of sleep, whether a traveler has a "strong body odor" or "eyes wide open"

According to a bulletin published by the agency in March and obtained by the Globe, the TSA follows around 35 people every day. Which means that thousands of Americans have been monitored under the program since its inception.

Although some air officials criticized the program as expensive and ineffective, the TSA defended it in a statement to the Washington Post, comparing the marshals to the neighborhood.

"We are no different from the corner cop who is placed there because there is an increased possibility that something can happen," said agency spokesman, James Gregory . "When you're in a tube at 30,000 feet … it makes sense to put some in there."

"The program analyzes information on a passenger's travel habits while taking into account the situation," added Gregory. "If this person does all that and the plane lands safely and it continues, the behavior will be noted, but they will not be approached or apprehended",

Every American is automatically screened for the Quiet Skies program when he or she enters the country and, if included, can be tracked on domestic flights, the Globe reported. The air traffic controllers responsible for monitoring the program then write minute-by-minute accounts of traveler behavior and transmit this information to the TSA

Travelers can stay in the program for 90 days, or three meetings, and

It is not known whether arrests were made because of the program.

Gregory stated that no passengers were screened because of his race or religion, but civil rights groups have already criticized the initiative:

The Federal Government already has several large watch lists for air travelers, including one more database 1 million people listed as known or suspected terrorists. In May, the New York Times reported that the TSA had begun to draw up a separate list for unruly passengers that, according to the agency, could pose a threat to the agency's security agents.