TSA deploys airport "behavior screeners".

[liberal4truth]

TSA deploys airport behavior screeners

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

Fri Apr 4, 2008

NEW YORK - To the untrained eye, the man looked like any other traveler as he waited in line at Kennedy Airport. But something about the way he was acting caught the attention of two security screeners.


For 16 minutes, they questioned him, scanned every inch of his body twice with a metal-detecting wand and emptied his carry-on bag onto a table. Out came a car stereo with wires dangling from it.

The man was eventually found to have done nothing wrong — he said he had pulled the stereo out of his car because he was afraid it would get stolen — and he was sent on his way.

But it's the type of scene that has been unfolding on a regular basis over the past four years at the nation's major airports under a rapidly expanding "behavior detection" program set up by the Transportation Security Administration to spot terrorists or other dangerous air travelers by way of subtle clues in the way they act.

More at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080405/ap_on_re_us/airports_behavior_agents

[Warren DeMontague]

1. They're looking for "facial expressions that indicate a person is under stress"...

Isn't that pretty much EVERYONE in the airport, with the exception of a couple people parked at the bar?

[tavalon]

2. I spend most of my time in those damn lines concealing my rage at being

having to participate in the TSA Dog and Pony show. I'm sure the behavioralists would have a field day with me. Look how her mouth twitches and how she keeps having to bring her eyes back in line when they start to roll with disgust. Why is she pointing and laughing at us? Why is she shaking her head in disgust?!!!! She clearly doesn't respect our authority!!!!

I have to spend the whole time trying to pretend that they are doing it for my own protection when I know full well that it has not one thing to do with that and even if it did, they are Keystone Kops and couldn't catch a hijacker if they had "Hijacker" tattooed on their fucking forehead.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Oh! I wish that I were still young and foolish enough to tattoo "Hijacker" on my forehead.

It would be an interesting test.

If they actually bothered to train the TSA staff as behavioral screeners they'd be able to reduce the stress level for all of the shoeless masses.

[MadHound]

3. OK, what's really needed here is for a large amount of people to start acting up

Acting weird and twitchy, enough that we get picked up in droves, overload these TSA idiots. Then, when their data and norms are skewed, perhaps they'll think twice before pulling somebody in.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Sounds like a lot of Freepers are gonna get pulled over

They're wound up so tight they could set off any alarm

[Deja Q]

6. Somebody should make a thread, titled "People with anxiety or panic disorders, check in!"

How will the TSA, and it's not the most enviable of jobs for sure, decipher who is looking what and why.

Granted, a car stereo like that would raise my suspicions too - and like that episode of the Brady Bunch when Bobby goes hog-wild as a student hall monitor, people sometimes have valid reasons (when not centric to the person's idiosyncrasies) for doing so.

[alarimer]

8. I am an anxious traveler.

I don't like standing in line and I am always afraid of being late. I am NOT a patient person so I get frustrated with the slowpokes in line and with the assholes in the TSA. So I guess they'll pull me out of line.

Just another reason not to fly.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Airport Security...A Big Dog & Pony Show

I love to travel, I despise airports! One abdicates ones civil rights and dignity once you enter the terminal...and for what?

We still have to take shoes off because some nutjob tried to pull this stunt off right after 9/11 and scared the shit out of people cause he was "Al Queda". The dude couldn't even blow his nose, yet today we're still taking off shoes as though Nike bombs are everywhere. I shudder to think what type of security we'd encounter if a person detonated a tampon bomb... :shiver:

Then there's the goofy selective scanning...people pulled out of line for some obtuse reason...put through an embarassing wand down and full search...in full view of others hoping they're not the next to be singled out. And then one must strip to almost nothing. Don't you dare think of walking through that metal detector with even a penny in your pocket...when those red lights go on, it's like the entire line stops to look to see who the "terrorist" is. And yet, we constantly hear reports of asshats who sneak through with gun aboard...but don't you dare try to walk aboard with a snowglobe or hidden bottle of water.

It's as though anyone who is intent on striking is that dumb as to walk right into one of these time wasters. As Carlin says, if you build a better mousetrap, some schmuck will build a better mouse. Anyone intent on taking down an airliner or creating a major catastrophe will find the holes in the system and explot it.

It'll be interesting to see if attitudes change as more and more people bypass either the hassle of the airport "experience" (not to mention the nightmares of the airlines) or can't afford the rising ticket prices. Will the security loosen as it has in the past to get fliers back...or, as I suspect, the airlines will get in line to get their next bailout. Sounds like if we dig a little bit, we'll find our air transportation system has been as compromised as our telcoms.