Biden Admin Put Americans Who Resisted Mask Mandates Or Were Involved In Jan. 6 On Severe No-Fly List: TSA
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have uncovered that the Biden administration placed a number of U.S. citizens on watchlists typically reserved for suspected terrorists — including some Americans who merely resisted the COVID-19 mask mandate or were alleged to have participated in the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
According to findings obtained by Fox News Digital from an internal probe, Biden’s TSA launched “Operation Freedom to Breathe” in September 2021, six months after the CDC had already eased federal mask rules. The initiative targeted Americans who had previously defied Biden’s mandates, resulting in 19 people being placed on intensive TSA watchlists. More than half were added to the highest severity no-fly list, which banned them entirely from boarding flights inside the U.S. Eleven of those individuals remained on government lists until April 2022, when the mask mandate was formally lifted.
“Biden’s TSA Administrator David Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “This was a wild abuse of power that punished Americans for political differences. President Trump promised to end this kind of weaponization, and we are delivering on that promise.”
The internal investigation also confirmed that Biden’s TSA placed roughly 280 Americans tied to the Capitol protests of Jan. 6 on federal watchlists. Five of those individuals were placed on a no-fly list.
Emails obtained by Fox show Biden officials ignored warnings from TSA’s own Chief Privacy Officer and career intelligence staff. One privacy official wrote on Jan. 13, 2021, that placing these individuals on federal watchlists “is clearly unrelated to transportation security” and amounted to “punishing people for the expression of their ideas when they haven’t been charged, let alone convicted of incitement or sedition.” Another TSA intelligence officer raised alarms, noting that most of the individuals arrested in connection with Jan. 6 “are technically curfew breakers” and said, “I hope we don’t end up adding them [to a watchlist] on just the arrest.”
Instead of relying on FBI or local police reports, TSA officials leaned heavily on the George Washington University Program on Extremism’s academic database and on social media activity to decide who should be flagged.
The investigation also found examples of misidentification: one National Guardsman who had deployed to Washington for Biden’s inauguration — but was not even present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — was added to a no-fly list due to faulty FBI intelligence. In another case, the wife of a federal air marshal was flagged on a watchlist after similar bad intelligence.
Most of the Jan. 6-related names were quietly removed from watchlists on June 28, 2021, though individuals who had pending charges often remained flagged until cleared.
TSA sources told Fox News Digital that Biden’s use of the lists was “the most expansive targeting of American citizens for no-fly restrictions in history.”
Noem confirmed that the case is being referred to the Department of Justice and Congress for further investigation.