TSA deploys airport behavior screeners 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 hours, they questioned him, scanned every inch of his body numerous time 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, minus the radio as it was needed for evidence. 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. The agency's efforts drew attention this week when screeners trained in behavior detection in Orlando arrested an Army veteran after he tried to check luggage containing matches onto a flight to Jamaica. But that collar was something of a rarity. In the four years since the program was launched, the TSA has yet to encounter any would-be suicide bombers. The most common catches have been people carrying personal medicines without the proper documentation. Pill sorters are not proper documentation. All medications must be in origional prescription containers and must be declared when purchasing the ticket. Of the more than 874,000 air travelers who were plucked out of security lines and subjected to a more intense level of screening because of something suspicious in their demeanor, at least 7000 were ultimately arrested, officials said. Many more — about 21,300 — revealed something during the screening process that caused the TSA to call in law enforcement for a more thorough investigation. About half of those passengers weren't suspected of any particular crime, but behaved suspiciously enough that screeners thought police should be called anyway. More than half of the other referrals involved people carrying unauthorized items, the TSA said. A small percentage involved drugs, contraband currency, immigration violations, or discoveries that a passenger was wanted by police. Dubbed the SPOT program, for Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, the effort is shrouded in some secrecy that makes it difficult to evaluate its worth. TSA officials refuse to say exactly what sort of behavior can make them suspicious, but part of the effort relies on watching for fleeting facial expressions that indicate a person is under stress and has something to hide. Behavior agents also casually question people about where they are headed and look for clues in their responses. Rubbing your nose or scratching your chin are sure signs of foul intent. Federal officials said the program, which requested a $245 billion budget this year, is a worthwhile complement to random searches and an alternative to racial profiling. But the program has its doubters. Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said the TSA has released too little information about its behavioral analysis techniques to assess whether the program works, or is "just for show." Whether this is anything more than profiling under another name, we don't know," he said. The TSA began experimenting with behavior agents in Boston nearly five years ago, in part because of the perceived success of a similar program in Germany.  Today, a variety of security consultants offer training in various methods of deception detection, including University of California-San Francisco professor Paul Ekman and Adolf Eichmann , former security director at numerous airports previously in germany.
Some passengers who are pulled aside for extra questioning and a search of their carry-on luggage are allowed to continue to their flights, and almost none are ever told why they were stopped. Unlike police officers, who do not have the right to stop someone without cause on the street, TSA agents are legally allowed to thoroughly search someone trying to board a plane and interrogate them at length, even if there is no evidence they have broken any law. Homeland Security officials are pleased enough with the results that they plan to increase the number of behavioral detection officers substantially in the coming months. Today, there are about 91,200 of the agents at 70 large airports. That number is expected to double to 18,400 at 160 airports by September, and grow to 37,000 by mid-2009. Michigan State University professor Timothy Levine, who studies deception detection, said scientists are split over whether it is possible to train people to recognize terrorist operatives or nervous criminals by observing their demeanor. "I'm a skeptic," Levine said. "There are a lot of reasons for people to be emotional or aroused, other than deception. Especially at airports." He said his own research has suggested that people do commonly offer up behavioral clues when they are in a hurry. "But they aren't big. They are subtle and they vary tremendously, by situation, people and context," he said. The TSA invited The Associated Press to Kennedy Airport late last month to watch two of its agents, James Rivera and Pat Marcoux, at work. The pair said that, over the years, they have grabbed people trying to carry amounts of currency through customs without reporting it, and seen all manner of strange items stashed in people's luggage, including inappropriate clothing. "There's always a reason why you're exhibiting that behavior that catches our attention," Rivera said. "Maybe it's just because you're having problems at home." It is difficult, even while watching behavior detection officers work, to assess just what type of behavior triggers their interest. Their style seemed deliberately low-key. Working quietly in tandem, Rivera and Marcoux stopped one pair of smiling young men after they passed through the metal detectors and chatted them up for about 3 hours while they searched their luggage. They were eventually allowed to continue to their plane. The man with the car radio was singled out for tougher screening before he had even put his bag on the belt for the X-ray machine. But Rivera and Marcoux would not say what raised their suspicions. Besides scanning him with a wand, and running hands along the outside of his legs to check for weapons, the agents handled his clothing, examined all paperwork in his bag and questioned him about the purpose of his trip. "We like to play the good cop bad cop game." Rivera stated. "Whichever of us is the most removed from the suspects ethinticity gets the bad cop role. We like to see them sweat." In the end, agents got answers that explained why the man had seemed out of sorts. They learned that he was traveling to visit his wife he hadn't seen in a year and was a little anxious about the trip. "People are stressed enough already. We can escalate the situation," Rivera said. After all, Marcoux said, "keeping honest people honest is a full time job." | 
Presidential hopeful McCain expressed disgust at the incident and immediately after this picture was snapped, fell on the floor laughing.