by WorldTribune Staff, November 30, 2023
What is the “Quad S” watchlist?
If you’re not a Trump supporter, a conservative activist, or a journalist for a right-leaning news outlet, you have no idea.
But if you do back Trump, advocate for conservative policies, or are an investigative reporter who doesn’t toe the Biden regime’s line, you may have seen the “SSSS” stamped on your airline boarding pass.
The “Quad S” stamp means the person is targeted for extra, often intrusive, TSA security screening before boarding a flight.
“The Biden regime is always working to concoct new methods to target, harass, and punish Trump supporters. And it appears they’ve discovered a fresh method by transforming the ‘friendly skies’ into a politically charged hellhole of harassment,” Revolver News said of the list.
Conservative activist Lauren Witzke said she was on the “SSSS” watchlist for over a year after running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.
“Every time I traveled, I had to make sure I arrived at the airport 3 hours early in order to be properly searched, swabbed for explosives, and escorted by Homeland Security to my gate — only to be searched and swabbed again before boarding… and then I had go through the whole process again at my connecting flight. I missed multiple flights and was left stranded in random cities multiple times because of it,” Witzke said.
“Every single time I was assured that this was just a ‘random selection,’ ” Witzke continued. “After a year of this humiliation ritual, Michelle Malkin finally filed a FOIA request on my behalf. She wanted to find out How and WHY patriotic Americans were being put on domestic terrorist watch lists.”
The FOIA request was not fulfilled, but Witzke said she was immediately taken off of the “SSSS” watch list one day after Malkin filed the request.
“The Biden Administration is putting conservative activists on lists for no reason apart from being their political opposition,” Witzke added. “It’s safe to say we’ve reached an extremely dangerous point in America. This must be stopped.”
The “SSSS” watchlist was put in the spotlight this week after investigative journalist James O’Keefe discovered his own name on the list and began digging for more information about it.
Trying to understand the “SSSS” designations on my domestic boarding passes.
PBI shut down entire passenger line while I went through.
Agent tells “your name sounds familiar. Contact State department to get off the list.”
Is this a common? TSA agent says “once a month” at PBI. pic.twitter.com/6szoG3SGSM— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 26, 2023
Conservative activist Brandon Straka said he also found himself on the list.
“I was placed on TSA’s ‘domestic terrorism’ watchlist and given a designation of SSSS (Quad S)- which requires hours of screening and a team of TSA agents (upward of 12 or more) to follow me around the airport with dogs,” Straka said.
Straka no doubt believes he was placed on the list due to his being outside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The worst accusations against me by the DOJ was that I stood outside of the open doors of the Capitol on J6 and said the words ‘go, go’ (purportedly as an encouragement to hundreds of people who wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway), and that I witnessed the crowd passing a police shield and said the words ‘take it, take it’ (it’s never been explained to me why I would care enough about this to contribute, but ok),” Straka wrote in a social media post.
“Presuming that the above is true, this is why I have been placed on a domestic terrorist list, and this is why you and everybody you care about has been significantly less safe the past 3 years as the majority of security resources are being weaponized to harass and punish Trump supporters.”
Publishers and Citizen Journalists: Start your Engines