American dissident journalist placed on flying watch list
Guerilla journalist and O’Keefe Media Group CEO James O’Keefe revealed Sunday the US State Department has placed him on a flying watch list.
O'Keefe is known for using undercover journalism and hidden cameras to expose totalitarians in various powerful institutions, including the federal government, pharmaceutical companies, and schools.
When O’Keefe recently attempted to go through security at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials shut down the line he was in and subjected him to a lengthy and invasive body search.
O’Keefe’s boarding pass bore the letters “SSSS”, singling him out for Secondary Security Screening Selection. TSA officials were either unwilling or unable to tell the journalist why he was placed on the SSSS list, and they added that in order to remove himself from the list he must first speak with the State Department.
In a hidden camera video posted to X, a TSA officer told O’Keefe that they see only about one SSSS designee a month.
In an update, O’Keefe said he was told by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee that in 2015 SSSS was only for those on the terror watch list. An SSSS designation meant that in addition to surveillance and invasive searches, federal Air Marshals would follow the target on the flight, often without the target’s knowledge.
But the journalist says it appears that SSSS designations were also applied to many Americans who traveled to Washington, DC around January 6th, 2021.
This was confirmed by Air Marshals National Council Director Sonya Labosco, who told reporter Breanna Morello this month that Air Marshals are busy tailing every person who flew into Washington, DC around January 6th even if they were not present at the rally at the Capitol. This is because TSA operatives have been designating many of those people as “domestic terrorists” in the computer database.
“We’ve caught [the TSA] red-handed and they lied,” Labosco said. “They’ve put indicators inside the computer system, they’ve manipulated the national database computer system and put that individuals . . . broke into the Capitol. That’s what they’re putting on there. I’ve seen these orders and I know exactly what they’re doing.”
Labosco said that those with an SSSS designation should know they will be “denied rights” that other travelers received.
“Their number one goal is for you to miss your flight,” she added. “They don’t want you to get where you’re going from point A to point B.”
Travelers on the SSSS list are followed by a minimum of three Air Marshals on every flight, the AIr Marshal chief said. Sometimes the Marshals follow the targets when they leave their houses for the airport. Because so many Air Marshals are now being assigned to follow American taxpayers who were in Washington, DC around January 6th, Labosco says there are not enough Air Marshals to follow “bad guys.”
“We’re not flying right now. The only missions that we are doing are ‘Quiet Skies’ missions and those are missions that are following the January 2021 people,” Labosco told Fox News last week. “So we’re either on the border for illegal immigrants or we’re following folks from January 2021. We’re not doing our regular missions where we’re out there looking for the bad guys so for now most flights you’re not gonna have Air Marshals.”
There are other reasons a person can be placed on the SSSS list, World Travel Protection North America and UK Regional Director Frank Harrison told Condé Nast Traveler, such as paying for a ticket with cash.
“Many travelers unknowingly flag themselves due to inconsistent but innocuous travel behaviors such as booking a last-minute ticket or paying in cash,” says Harrison, who suggests thinking of a travel profile like a credit score. “If you exhibit behavior that is inconsistent with your profile—say, for example, suddenly adopting a jet-setting pattern—this is a red flag and a potential alert for drug or human trafficking. Consistency is king.”
O’Keefe says that to avoid an SSSS designation, travelers should enter the wrong birthday when they buy the ticket. The TSA uses name and birth date data points to flag travelers.
