A source familiar with the situation told CBS News that the spouse of a U.S. senator was placed on the government surveillance list in 2023 after surveillance programs marked his travel profile, but was removed from office after the senator's retreat channels with government officials.

Shortly after New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen met with the Transport Safety Agency for her husband William Shaheen, TSA officials removed him from the list of people under additional scrutiny under TSA's "Quiet Sky" home surveillance program.

William Shaheen, an attorney for Lebanese-American active in the Arab-American community, was subsequently included on another list, which excluded him from any future advanced screening, including random checks at the airport TSA checkpoint, two sources said.

The incident happened in October 2023, a few days after Hamas attacked Israel and killed more than 1,200 people.

TS Monitoring Efforts have long attracted criticism track American citizens do not suspect any crime. The situations where individuals are listed (or deleted) are mostly hidden from the public.

Quiet skyBeginning in 2010, analysts and undercover air marshals were hired to monitor people in the airport and use excellent warrants, facial recognition software, identification of suspicious travel patterns and behaviors, and other data on flights to try to prevent terrorist attacks.

Some Americans have made detailed efforts to free themselves from the quiet sky-enhanced screening list, some even engaged in protracted legal battles.

Republican Tulsi Gabbard was on the quiet sky list and was searched and surveilled by the Federal Aviation Marshal and spoke in 2024. Gabbard, a former presidential candidate and a member of the Democratic Party of Congress, has since been identified as the director of national intelligence.

Sources said Shahing's husband was evacuated from the quiet sky two days after contacting then-TSA administrator David Pekoske. Pekoske served during Trump and Biden's presidency.

The decision to put the senator’s husband in what TSA calls a “safe flight exclusion list” to cover up the senator’s husband, marking an unusual step in a system designed to operate outside of political intervention.

A spokesman for Senator Shaheen told CBS News on Tuesday that her husband had conducted several extensive, invasive and degraded searches at airport checkpoints and sought to understand the nature and reasons.

Sources told CBS that in July 2023, William Shaheen conducted additional inspections at Boston Airport ahead of two flights. Officials said at the time that the security agency randomly selected travelers for additional screening and William Shaheen was randomly selected.

Three months later, William Shaheen was tagged by the Transportation Security Agency because his two flight booking travel companions were a person listed by the FBI as a "known or suspected terrorist" or KST, or a broad title covering a wide range of risk profiles. A federal air marshal was sent to a secret trip during a flight on October 18, 2023, a source said.

Senator Shaheen talked to Pekoske and asked about her husband. On October 20, 2023, her husband was added to the "Safe Flight Exclusion List", a VIP list that exempts travelers from security agencies' scrutiny and surveillance programs, including random screenings.

Orders from TSA headquarters were issued to ensure William Shaheen's protection status signaled when his future boarding pass was sent to the airport.

A spokesman for Senator Shaheen said she had no idea that her husband was monitored under the quiet sky program or that he was later specifically excluded from the situation of enhanced screening and was given preferential treatment.

Sources familiar with the matter said William Shaheen and CBS News were unable to confirm their identity, which was removed from the FBI's terrorism surveillance list later in 2023. It is unclear why the person is on the list, although many factors, including visits to hostile countries, certain suspicious travel patterns or contact with designated terrorist suspects, can contribute to the list.

A spokesman for Senator Shaheen declined to identify her husband's travel partner, except to say that the person was an Arab-American lawyer. The spokesman said there was no indication that the person was designated as a known or suspected terrorist.

Homeland Security officials told CBS on Tuesday that William Shaheen was recently removed from the list of anyone who has enhanced surveillance.

Mr. Trump criticized what he called the weaponization of state power and the use of government leverage to pursue the weapons of political opponents, but since reelection, he has tried to reach scores with those he thinks are wronged.

Mr. Trump, the top Democrat of the Foreign Relations Commission, often criticized her, and announced that she would not seek reelection in 2026. Her eldest daughter, Democrat Stefany Shaheen, will run in the U.S. House of Representatives.