If you’re afraid to fly you could be a terrorist
by digby
The Intercept has a post up about the “signs” a traveler might be a terrorist TSA agents are trained to look for:
Fidgeting, whistling, sweaty palms. Add one point each. Arrogance, a cold penetrating stare, and rigid posture, two points.
These are just a few of the suspicious signs that the Transportation Security Administration directs its officers to look out for — and score — in airport travelers, according to a confidential TSA document obtained exclusively by The Intercept.
The checklist is part of TSA’s controversial program to identify potential terrorists based on behaviors that it thinks indicate stress or deception — known as the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT. The program employs specially trained officers, known as Behavior Detection Officers, to watch and interact with passengers going through screening.
The document listing the criteria, known as the “Spot Referral Report,” is not classified, but it has been closely held by TSA and has not been previously released. A copy was provided to The Intercept by a source concerned about the quality of the program.
The checklist ranges from the mind-numbingly obvious, like “appears to be in disguise,” which is worth three points, to the downright dubious, like a bobbing Adam’s apple. Many indicators, like “trembling” and “arriving late for flight,” appear to confirm allegations that the program picks out signs and emotions that are common to many people who fly.
Most of those would seem to also indicate someone who is nervous about flying — for any number of reasons. There must be millions of people who get flying anxiety that mirrors those behaviors. I know I do. I’ve become a white knuckle flyer in recent years and I’m sure I manifest a lot of those behaviors.I guess I don’t fit other aspects of the profile so I don’t get unduly scrutinized (although my bag gets manually searched every single time after it comes through the machine and my hands are often scanned for chemical residue. But I think that’s just random.)
I do know that you cannot complain about the screening — or even talk about it — without arousing suspicion. My husband was detained and aggressively grilled when he told a woman in the line who was complaining that she should just do what the TSA says to do because they have a lot of power. Apparently, that was seen as some sort of insult — which presumably also indicates a terrorist frame of mind. After all, who else but a terrorist wouldn’t understand that a loyal citizen not only does exactly what he is told but he does it because he believes in the inherent decency and pureness of heart of those who are protecting us?
Since its introduction in 2007, the SPOT program has attracted controversy for the lack of science supporting it. In 2013, the Government Accountability Office found that there was no evidence to back up the idea that “behavioral indicators … can be used to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security.” After analyzing hundreds of scientific studies, the GAO concluded that “the human ability to accurately identify deceptive behavior based on behavioral indicators is the same as or slightly better than chance.”
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security found in 2013 that TSA had failed to evaluate SPOT, and “cannot ensure that passengers at United States airports are screened objectively, show that the program is cost-effective, or reasonably justify the program’s expansion.”
Despite those concerns, TSA has trained and deployed thousands of Behavior Detection Officers, and the program has cost more than $900 million since it began in 2007, according to the GAO.
But it does have this going for it:
One former Behavior Detection Officer manager, who asked not to be identified, said that SPOT indicators are used by law enforcement to justify pulling aside anyone officers find suspicious, rather than acting as an actual checklist for specific indicators. “The SPOT sheet was designed in such a way that virtually every passenger will exhibit multiple ‘behaviors’ that can be assigned a SPOT sheet value,” the former manager said.
The signs of deception and fear “are ridiculous,” the source continued. “These are just ‘catch all’ behaviors to justify BDO interaction with a passenger. A license to harass.”
Feature, not bug. That’s the sort of thing that’s always useful for law enforcement. Just in case. That whole probable cause thing is such a drag.
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