Leo Hohmann – Leo’s Newsletter June 17, 2025

Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines have all knowingly been selling their passenger data to the federal government for years, a new report alleges.

Airlines Reporting Corporation, a company that focuses on ticket transaction settlements, has reportedly sold access to customer records information to the Department of Homeland Security and its Customs and Border Protection division. This deal was first reported by Wired.

According to Wired, the information that ARC sold includes passengers’ names, full itineraries and financial details.

The airlines collectively own the data broker, Airlines Reporting Corporation, or ARC, which collects detailed flight-record information from passengers.

According to The Daily Mail:

This broker then sold passenger data on to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a contract that asked the CBP not to reveal where the data had come from, according to records seen by 404 Media.

The CBP, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), claims the data is necessary to help authorities track people of interest.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also purchased the data, the publication reported.

It comes after ICE raids sparked widespread unrest in Los Angeles and clashes with the National Guard.

Democrat Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media:

“The big airlines, through a shady data broker that they own called ARC, are selling the government bulk access to Americans’ sensitive information, revealing where they fly and the credit card they used.”

The data is updated daily with ticket sales from the previous day, and collectively holds more than one billion records covering 39 months of past and future travel details.

The data sold, in a contract starting in June 2024 and potentially running until 2029, covers both US and non-US citizens, according to the report.

Jake Laperruque from the Center for Democracy & Technology told the Daily Mail:

“While obtaining domestic airline data, like many other transaction and purchase records, generally doesn’t require a warrant, there’s still supposed to go through a legal process that ensures independent oversight and limits data collection to records that will support an investigation.”

Let’s face it. This is the type of operation that was enabled by the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress in the aftermath of 9/11 and signed by former President George W. Bush. It was unconstitutional at the time and remains a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment, the right to be secure in your personal papers and effects and not be unreasonably or secretly searched.

Now, almost 25 years later, we find outselves on the brink of another big war. What freedoms will the government try to snatch away from us this time? It always happens, folks. This is why we push back against the neocons and their reflexive rush to war. Not only will Americans in the military die in a likely fruitless cause, but we the people will be abused by our government in the aftermath.

Real ID, warrantless searches and spying on citizens came out of the War on Terror 20 years ago. Digitized ID and the full-on surveillance state will be ushered in on the coattails of the next big Middle East war.

Think about it. And let your elected members of Congress know that war should always be a last resort, when America’s own national interest is directly at stake.

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