101 Pat-Downs by Shawna Malvini Redden;

Author:Shawna Malvini Redden; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRA002040 Transportation / Aviation / Commercial, POL048000 Political Science / Intergovernmental Organizations
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

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In late 2011 behavior detection efforts became more formalized in two pilot airports, Boston Logan and Detroit International. The new program featured more focused interaction between BDOs and passengers. Dubbed “TSA chat-downs” in the media, the program experimented with short interviews between TSOs and all passengers, not just those found to be acting suspiciously. Modeled after the lauded Israeli model of behavioral profiling, the chat-downs involved asking passengers simple questions to probe for hostility or deception that might warrant further investigation.7 However, the program was scrapped in a flurry of critiques about feasibility, hits to line efficiency, and racial profiling.

The whole behavior detection program has faced skepticism from security professionals, who question whether the level of training is sufficient for BDOs to master behavioral profiling, which demands a sophisticated understanding of emotional management and micro facial expressions.8 Furthermore, critics point out that a program that works well in Israel—with its seven primary airports and eleven million annual fliers—is not scalable to the United States, where hundreds of millions fly through four hundred primary airports.9

Skepticism comes from inside the TSA as well. TSO Carrie said BDOs are trained by Israeli intelligence officers. But, she said, “basically, the Israeli security said that ‘Our people who cleaned toilets know more about behavior detection than your behavior detection officers.’ That’s kind of scary, don’t you think?”

“That’s a little bit scary, yes,” I agreed, knowing that reports in 2013 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office showed that the ability to identify behavioral threats using the SPOT approach is little better than chance.

“They’ve never caught anybody,” Carrie said, referring to BDOs who scan crowds. “We’ve caught people.” As Carrie is based in the Midwest, I’m assuming a royal “we” here to indicate the TSA broadly. “We caught somebody in Midland, Texas, with two pounds of C-4,” she said. “That made the national news, so I can tell you that.”

“My goodness!” I chirped, promising to look the story up later.

Carrie continued, “The reason the BDOs didn’t catch it is because he didn’t act suspicious. . . . If you know anything about [behavioral profiling], you know that most psychopaths don’t show any signs [of] their business or odd behavior.”

“Sure,” I commented, although the entirety of my behavioral profiling training comes from watching the CBS drama Criminal Minds.

While Carrie was right about the confiscation of the C-4, the perpetrator in question did not turn out to be a psychopath. Sergeant Trey Atwater was indeed arrested after TSOs in Midland, Texas, discovered two and a half pounds of C-4 in his backpack on New Year’s Eve in 2011.10 Atwater, a Green Beret and demolitions expert, had traveled from North Carolina to visit family over the holidays. The FBI dropped the felony charges against him when they determined it was plausible Atwater was actually unaware of the explosives, which were lodged inside the lumbar padding of his backpack.

Atwater had returned from a third tour in Afghanistan eight months previously, where it was routine for soldiers to carry large quantities of C-4.

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