Our only concerns with peeping TSA folk are not at the full-body screening machines, they are also with secret personnel whose job it is to simply sit and watch passengers. These detection officers have the power to command that passengers go through additional screening just because they don’t like the way the travelers are acting.
This is not a new, secret program. It has been going on for almost six years following the lead of the Israeli security services who scan their airports for suspicious characters. It started in Boston back in 2003 and expanded dramatically in 2006. TSA calls this the Behavior Detection Officer (BDO) program.
If you have been watching the TV series, Lie to Me, you have the idea. These officers are not looking for liars (well, maybe they are) but for antsy folk who are nervous because they are planning to blow up a plane (or perhaps because they have $2.5 million dollars of drugs in their hand luggage).
TSA’s BDO-trained security officers are screening travelers for involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered. TSA recognizes that an individual exhibiting some of these behaviors does not automatically mean a person has terrorist or criminal intent. BDOs do, however, help our security officers focus appropriate resources on determining if an individual presents a higher risk or if his/her behavior has a non-threatening origin. Individuals exhibiting specific observable behaviors may be referred for additional screening at the checkpoint to include a handwanding, limited pat down and physical inspection of one’s carry-on baggage. Referrals are based on specific observed behaviors only, not on one’s appearance, race, ethnicity or religion.
The program is considered phenomenally successful with something like a 10 percent success rate at discovering illegal goods, weapons, stashed bottles of liquids, corkscrews, drugs, folk traveling on someone else’s ticket, false IDs and other contraband (but no terrorists yet) passing through security checkpoints.
…the government’s leading behavior-detection advocate, says automated detection “is in the far distant future.” The TSA’s present system, he says, “is phenomenally successful” — even if more than 90 percent of questionable people turn out innocent.
And don’t think that striking up a conversation with a TSA officer may be the friendly thing to do. Or, that the officer is actually trying to be friendly. You may be in the midst of a behavioral search. That nice friendly TSA guy or gal may be assessing your every twitch and shrug to see if you are uncomfortable.
“We’re looking to see if there’s any cognitive overload in responses to simple questions like, How are you today? Where are you headed?” says Carl Maccario, a TSA program analyst in Boston who helped launch the agency program at Logan International Airport in 2003. “If you’re trying to be deceptive or up to some malfeasance, people can pick up cues the body will display when that conflict is going on.”
The Washington Post reported that “… 98,805 passengers [were asked] to undergo additional screenings. Police questioned 9,854 of them and arrested 813.”
Simply making it through the gauntlet of security at an airport may not be enough to get TSA off your case.
The observation of passengers does not end at the airport.
On an undisclosed number of domestic and international flights, federal air marshals pick up where the behavior detection officers leave off.
The marshals blend in with passengers and work covertly to spot suspicious behavior, said Nelson Minerly, spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, which also falls under the TSA.
Though the justification for these searches is terrorism, no terrorists seem to have been apprehended. It seems like a major invasion of personal privacy just to get on a plane.
One reader responding to a bulletin board thread noted: “We would not tolerate border checks on highways between states, and we do not find it legal to stop all patrons leaving a bar to see if they are drinking and driving… why is wholesale TSA screening tolerated if it does not fulfill its real purpose?”
In the meantime, just as in scenes scarily like some from the riveting film, Lives of Others, faceless bureaucrats in more than 160 airports are secretly watching us as we jostle through security procedures minding our own business, simply trying to get from Point A to Point B.
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Though the justification for these searches is terrorism, no terrorists seem to have been apprehended. It seems like a major invasion of personal privacy just to get on a plane.
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Interesting how nobody screams civil liberties when an Imam from Queens is arrested by the FBI on suspicion of terrorism.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/fbi-raids-homes-in-queens/
yet, when the govt takes “preventative measures” at the airport, everyone’s inconvenienced.
The TSA obviously chooses to publicize their BDO program in an effort to convince an increasingly skeptical public that there’s more to the TSA than the inconsistent buffoonery we endure at checkpoints. Their spectacular success rate at detecting so many illicit things (which under any other circumstances would be defined as “false positives” that have nothing to do with terrorism) is presumably meant to reassure us that should actual terrorists somehow stumble into an airport, the BDOs will be right on them (assuming, of course, that they aren’t distracted by the illicit corkscrews or willful violations of airline contracts of carriage they need to make their Monthly Numbers).
Unfortnately, the publicity impairs whatever ability the BDOs have to spot the unique signs of anxiety peculiar to terrorists. The publicity means that more of us will have good reason to be anxious and fearful that our “involuntary physical and physiological reactions” will lead to additional TSA hassles. After all, many of us do “have something to hide,” even if it’s entirely legal and poses no threat to aviation. Although the TSA insists that their BDOs can reliably distinguish the unique “signals” sent by someone who intends to blow up an airplane even in a large room full of anxious and fearful people, the “noise” caused by people fearing increased TSA hassle can only make the BDOs’ jobs more difficult and their identification less reliable. That can’t benefit security.
Unlike the rest of the TSA’s operations at airports, BDOs have publicized statistics and metrics that prove their effectiveness at detecting all manner of “deception.” I suppose it’s a matter of interpretation whether that means they’re doing anything that actually protects us from terrorism. If you’re the sort who is comforted and reassured by the thoroughness and professionalism of airport screening, you’ll agree with the TSA’s conclusion that their ability to find stashed bottles of liquids proves their ability to identify any terrorists who might walk through a checkpoint. But if you consider the TSA to be little more than costly and intrusive “security theater,” you’ll of course question whether an additional act that generates so many false positives does anything beyond increasing the hassle to travelers.
I’ve got no problem with it, and I don’t consider watching someone in a public place as an “invasion of privacy.” You do it all the time too.
I have no problem with it – kind of reminiscent of ElAl’s practices – sure they don’t “catch” any “terrorists” but knowledge of the program most surely keeps terrorists from trying to get on planes…. of course, they’ll find other ways…..but in the meantime we are probably incrementally safer.
Forget “invasion of privacy”, how about violations of Fourth Amendment rights? Your local police officer isn’t allowed to stop you because you appear different than other citizens, so why is the TSA allowed to send you for secondary screening without reasonable cause? And since when is the TSA responsible for stopping drug smugglers? Isn’t that a little outside the scope of aircraft safety?
Bruce InCharlotte November 10, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Forget “invasion of privacy”, how about violations of Fourth Amendment rights? Your local police officer isn’t allowed to stop you because you appear different than other citizens
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Bruce, it’s BEHAVIOR:
Individuals exhibiting specific observable behaviors may be referred for additional screening at the checkpoint to include a handwanding, limited pat down and physical inspection of one’s carry-on baggage. Referrals are based on specific observed behaviors only, not on one’s appearance, race, ethnicity or religion.
These are public spaces. If law enforcement finds simple observation to be a useful way to catch criminals – terrorists included – then I’m for it. The reason that no terrorists, specifically, have been caught so far is that, in fact, the number of terrorists is a very minute percentage of the flying population. In any given airport on a given day, there are most likely none.
Frankly there are lots and lots of things about flying that are more worthy of getting annoyed about than this.
This makes me wonder what about my behavior has led me to be chosen for secondary screening so many times. I have been pulled aside even on the passageway leading to the plane and had a fanny pack scrutinized with every compartment unzipped and inspected even as the woman doing that complained about the number of compartments she was having to look through. When we were still allowed to carry water aboard, I was made to drink some of mine just to prove that it was actually water. My camera was inspected to make sure that it was just a little point-and-shoot camera. I have been patted down and wanded over too many times to count. It is a rare trip that I don’t find a message in my checked luggage that it has been opened and inspected. For all of these extra searches, there has never been any item confiscated (nor was I carrying any contraband). Some of these searches were a little embarrassing, especially when I was traveling with a group from my church. For the record, I am a caucasion senior overweight grandmother with mobility problems. I don’t think I fit any profile of terrorist or drug runner. I don’t think I act in a nervous manner at the airport despite the ever-present possibility that I am going to be searched again. I know they won’t find anything when I am chosen for more screening, but it seems to me that resources could be spent more efficiently if TSA searched elsewhere.
I wish the US did airport screening just like the Israelis do. They know how to “grill” you without making it seem like they’re on a power trip. If TSA screeners seem friendly and not surly while giving me the once or twice over, I’m all for that.
What is the problem here? First and formost, your wholesale oposition to whole body screening is laughable on face value. It is a valuable tool for secondary screening. As long as someone is given a choice between the scanner and a physical search, and as long as part of secondary, and not initial screening, I see no problem.
Now on to this article “The marshals blend in with passengers and work covertly to spot suspicious behavior, said Nelson Minerly, spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, which also falls under the TSA.
Though the justification for these searches is terrorism, no terrorists seem to have been apprehended. It seems like a major invasion of personal privacy just to get on a plane.
One reader responding to a bulletin board thread noted: “We would not tolerate border checks on highways between states, and we do not find it legal to stop all patrons leaving a bar to see if they are drinking and driving… why is wholesale TSA screening tolerated if it does not fulfill its real purpose?”
The Air Marshals are there anyhow. Any law enforcement agent placed in a public venue can observe behavior. Their placement on a plane isn’t unique. While no terrorists have been caught yet, the purpose has ALWAYS been advertised by law enforcement as a deterent. Plenty of other people with bad intentions HAVE been
removed however due to the presence of the air marshals, even if they are not terrorists (unruly passengers for example). The definition of a “major invasion of privacy” now includes the presence of a LE official on an airplane, even when not a SINGLE, SOLITARY case of false-terrorist ID has occured due to their placement in almost 10 years of service? Fear of potential privacy invasion doesn’t equate actual invasion. Sorry. You also don’t have terrorists trying to blow up bars, or highways. Even if you did, those are diverse access points.
An airplane is a multi-person vehicle with a single access point. Apples and oranges. Wrong again. Once your arguments begin with logic, and not fear mongering (ironic since that’s what many accused the previous administration of) then I’ll take you seriously. Until then, you’re simply blowing privacy-invasion smoke. Good day.
wondered what kind of observation I would get if I went through security in regular clothes and then disappeared into the rest room to put on my full length hijab and face veil … want to bet that I would be suddenly profiled?
BTW-I know the point of this post was mainly informative, and simply and FYI for the most part. That’s fine, and so is questioning the motives/practices of any government agency. What isn’t OK is arguing against anything based soley on emotion. That isn’t what you did here, but it is what some will try and do. As you point out yourself, the TSA has not made these Behavioral Detection Officer positions secret, and in fact, has openly publicized them. This is most likely
intentional to give any potential terrorist a second thought.
@Catherine: “wondered what kind of observation I would get if I went through security in regular clothes and then disappeared into the rest room to put on my full length hijab and face veil … want to bet that I would be suddenly profiled?”
Actually, Catherine, IMHO, no one would probably notice. If they did,
you would esentially be forced to admit you staged a scene in order to create the impression of religious profiling where one didn’t exist. Anyone who shows up in one pair of clothing at the airport and then changes into a totally new outfit in the bathroom, should be suspect.
I don’t want to hear the excuses about buisness suites either. Normal people show up in the same clothes they plan to travel in. Those trying to cause a scene don’t.Your thought exercise proves nothing to me other than you’re uncomfortable with the fact that suspicous behavior warrants investigation, and are potentially paranoid about your being profiled based on your religion. Perhaps you should take issue with the terrorists who highjacked Islam, not the majority of people trying to protect you and do their jobs.
I have flown on El-Al, the Israeli airline, several times and felt so very secure. They actually board their own planes here in the States with armed guards right there. Before you board, you are asked all kinds of questions, like: Where are you going in Israel? Who do you know there? What are you going to do there? Etc. When you come back, they grill you on the other end. with: Who have you talked to here? Did you visit anyone in their home? Did you buy anything? What did you buy? What did you do yesterday morning? When are you coming back? Who are you traveling with? Where are you going in the US? Do you have relatives here in Israel? … and more….
They made me nervous but we had been told by the tour agency that we should just answer the questions and let it be. The first time I went, my husband stayed here, and when we landed, I got a bad asthma attack. They took me to the back and gave me a breathing treatment with a nebulizer. They were totally so nice to me and made me feel very welcome in their country.
I worked a flight to Belfast in the early 80’s. Talk about thorough security procedures. As a crewmember I was taken into an area and frisked physically. And, worked a flight into Tel Aviv as well. Many, many layers of security there. Within the terminal and on the ramp. Had to be there HOURS before departure.
I believe El-Al is the only carrier that has missile avoidance techonology on it’s aircraft as well.
So, would an Army major from Fort Hood ever get secondary screening?
Here lie 14
From an avowed traitor
Who exhibited all the signs
But to the wrong bureaucracy
RIP
Nobody was Faster
I find it difficult to fly. I would drive across the country to see my family if I could get enough time for the 7-8 days necessary on the road, plus the visit. Why? Because flying is STRESSFUL.
Don’t whine at me that flying is fun, or easy, or safer than driving, or any of that. Many, many people find it incredibly stressful and overbearing, and yes, we know that a good deal of the security is for show and that it can and does go on power trips.
I’ve a minor neurological disorder that produces nervous symptoms and makes it so that I can’t process adreneline well, which only enhances those symptoms. I get stressed, my nerves fray, and there is squat I can do to stop it. So what happens when I fly? Of course, like clockwork, I’m chosen for more “screening.” I’ve been asked to partially strip so many times I’ve lost count. Can’t tell you how stressful that all is, especially anticipating it all, all while wondering “Will they be nice this time or will they be cruel and insensitive? If they drop me from the flight, will I be able to get a refund this time?”
Not once have they ever found contraband, I always try to follow their ‘orders’, and I’ve even tried to explain my neurological disorder to them. I get empty stares because the name is not well known, and I’ve been told more than once that I’m “making it up.”
I’m not ranting for no reason, I’m trying to make the point that people do not always act nervous or jumpy because they are hiding something. I get the point of airport security, but its gotten to the point where I simply can’t fly, and I know I’m not the only person around with issues that do NOT equate to “I’m a drug trafficking terrorist.”
With all the efforts being JUSTIFIED (yes, justified) to “catch terrorists,” I wonder how many people have given up on flying altogether? How long will we justify punishing innocent travelers in the search for “terrorists?” Since when did we allow private companies to decide which of our rights are appliable to them? Should I have to bring a doctors note concerning my private medical issues to convince people on a power trip that I’m NOT a terrorist or hiding something?
Sorry for the length…
like Marilyn, a self-described “caucasion senior overweight grandmother with mobility problems”, i’ve been “special-searched” a number of times – for a while there it seemed that i was always chosen ‘randomly’ for the tardis-like puffer booth – i thought it was because i am so patently NOT your cliche terrorist (white-haired caucasian lady dressed fairly conservatively and well-traveled enough to know the drill blindfolded) that they chose me out of reverse discrimination
i’m very troubled by the results reported in the article – people arrested for every conceivable reason except the one that caused the TSA to be created – unbelievable that Fourth Amendment rights protecting us from unreasonable searches and seizures can be trampled without much of a whimper – Big Brother is indeed watching!
I think that behavioral profiling is a much better way to detect problems rather that the mindless screening that goes on. I think that behavioral profiling is much more effective and less prejudicial than racial profiling. I’ve seen old ladies in wheelchairs and mothers with babies and toddlers being harassed by less than smart TSA agents, as well as anyone who looks slightly Middle Eastern. That sort of thing does not make us safer. If you have nothing to hide, what is your problem with behavior profiling? The Israelis have used it successfully for years. Someone profiled Richard Reid,”the shoe bomber” but was ignored by the airlines. That could have ended in disaster. I personally feel much safer with profilers who can target certain behaviors……. or do you think that removing our shoes ensures our safety?