When a senator's husband landed on a travel watchlist, a phone call got him removed

A U.S. senator's spouse was placed on a government watchlist in 2023 after a surveillance program flagged his travel profile, but he was removed after the senator back-channeled with administration officials, sources familiar with the situation told CBS News.

Shortly after New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen met with the Transportation Security Administration about her husband, William Shaheen, TSA officials removed him from a list of people subjected to additional scrutiny under TSA's "Quiet Skies" domestic surveillance program.

William Shaheen, an Lebanese-American attorney active in the Arab-American community, was then placed on a different list, which excluded him from any future advanced screening, including random checks at airport TSA checkpoints, two of the sources said.

The episode took place in a heightened security environment in October 2023, days after Hamas attacked Israel and killed more than 1,200 people.

TSA's surveillance efforts have long attracted criticism for tracking U.S. citizens not suspected of any crimes. The circumstances that land an individual on a list — or what gets them removed — have been mostly concealed from the public.

Quiet Skies, which began in 2010, employs analysts and undercover air marshals to monitor people in airports and during flights, using outstanding warrants, facial recognition software, identification of suspicious travel patterns and behaviors and other data to try to prevent terrorist attacks.

Some Americans undertake exhaustive efforts to get themselves removed from the Quiet Skies enhanced screening list — with some even engaging in protracted legal fights.

Republican Tulsi Gabbard spoke out in 2024 after she was placed on the Quiet Skies list and subjected to searches and monitoring by federal air marshals. Gabbard, a former presidential candidate and Democratic member of Congress, has since been confirmed as the director of national intelligence.

Shaheen's husband, according to sources, was removed from Quiet Skies two days after she contacted David Pekoske, then the TSA administrator. Pekoske served in the post under both Presidents Trump and Biden.

The decision to then shield the senator's husband by putting him on what TSA calls the "secure flight exclusion list" marked an unusual step in a system meant to operate outside of political interference.

A spokesperson for Sen. Shaheen told CBS News on Tuesday that she contacted TSA after her husband was subjected to several extensive, invasive and degrading searches at airport checkpoints – and was seeking to understand the nature and cause.

Sources told CBS that in July 2023 William Shaheen was pulled aside for extra screening at the Boston airport ahead of two flights. Officials said at the time that the security agency randomly selected travelers for additional screening, and William Shaheen had been randomly chosen.

Three months later, William Shaheen was flagged by the transportation security agency because his travel companion on two flight reservations was a person listed by the FBI as a "known or suspected terrorist," or KST, a broad designation that covers a wide-ranging risk profile. A federal air marshal was sent to covertly travel near them on a flight on Oct. 18, 2023, one source said.

Sen. Shaheen spoke with Pekoske to ask about the situation regarding her husband. On Oct. 20, 2023, her husband was added to the "secure flight exclusion list," a VIP list that exempts a traveler from the security agency's vetting and surveillance programs, including random screenings.

An order from TSA headquarters was sent to make sure the safeguarded status for William Shaheen was signaled when his future boarding passes were presented at airports.

The spokesperson for Sen. Shaheen said she wasn't aware that her husband had been monitored under the Quiet Skies program, or that he had later been given preferential treatment by being specifically excluded from enhanced screening,

The person William Shaheen traveled with, whose identity could not be confirmed by CBS News, was removed from the FBI terrorism watchlist later in 2023, sources familiar with the matter said. It was not clear why the person was placed on the list, though a host of factors including visits to hostile countries, certain suspicious travel patterns, or contacts with designated terror suspects can all contribute to the listing.

The spokesperson for Sen. Shaheen declined to identify her husband's travel companion other than to say the person was an Arab-American attorney. The senator was not given any indication the person was designated as a known or suspected terrorist, the spokesperson said.

William Shaheen was recently removed from the list of people excluded from any enhanced surveillance, a Department of Homeland Security official told CBS on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump has criticized what he refers to as the weaponization of state power and the use of government levers to go after political opponents, but since his reelection, has sought to settle scores with those he perceives to have wronged him.

Sen. Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of Mr. Trump and his policies, has announced she will not seek reelection in 2026. Her eldest daughter, Democrat Stefany Shaheen, is running for a seat in the U.S. House.