$1B TSA Behavioral Screening Program Slammed As "Junk Science"

schwit1 writes The Transportation Security Administration has been accused of spending a billion dollars on a passenger-screening program that's based on junk science. The claim arose in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has tried unsuccessfully to get the TSA to release documents on its SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques) program through the Freedom of Information Act. SPOT, whose techniques were first used in 2003 and formalized in 2007, uses "highly questionable" screening techniques, according to the ACLU complaint, while being "discriminatory, ineffective, pseudo-scientific, and wasteful of taxpayer money." TSA has spent at least $1 billion on SPOT. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2010 that "TSA deployed SPOT nationwide before first determining whether there was a scientifically valid basis for using behavior detection and appearance indicators as a means for reliably identifying passengers as potential threats in airports," according to the ACLU. And in 2013, GAO recommended that the agency spend less money on the program, which uses 3,000 "behavior detection officers" whose jobs is to identify terrorists before they board jetliners.

Comments

Security theater

[king neckbeard]

TSA policies are security theater. Film at 11.

Re: Security theater

[sycodon]

The Israelis seem to have a pretty good method

Re: Security theater

[TubeSteak]

The problem here isn't the science, it's the pork.

Pork has nothing to do with it and the science isn't all that bad.
The problem is that SPOT is a diet-version of Israel's behavioral screening program, which is what makes it a waste of money.

SPOT leaves out the naked profiling that Israel uses and it also completely neglects the intrusive (and lengthy) questioning of travelers.
Basically, the two pieces that make it at all effective.

To summarize, the Israeli system could never be fully transplanted into the USA because
1. It profiles based on race, religion, and country of origin
2. It is manpower intensive
3. It puts security before anything, including your family of 5 missing their flight.

Modern-day phrenology

[Anonymous Coward]

For the libertarian-leaning members of the audience, there was a nice article in Cato "Regulation" journal awhile back looking at this issue:

"Screening Tests for Terrorists"
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2013/1/v35n4-4.pdf

Re: Let me guess

[ColdWetDog]

No, no. You've got it all wrong again.

$900 million for the company running the screening program. Peanuts for the peons.

Re:Let me guess

[JeffOwl]

Deluded, uneducated, and stupid are separate concepts.

You are the problem

[cbhacking]

but it does feel a bit nicer when you're in a tin can miles above the earth

Only if you're utterly ignorant or a complete coward. The TSA hasn't actually stopped any terrorist attempts. They haven't even stopped people from making terrorist attempts - there have been a few (leading to the reasons we now have to take off our shoes, for example) - but the TSA missed those.

If you know how, it's utterly trivial to get shit past the TSA. I routinely opt out and go with the pat-down (which is significantly better security than the scanners, though only about half the time does the agent do a decent job of it) and still get prohibited items through the X-ray in my carry-on bags all the time. It's easy. For example, you're allowed to leave tablets in your bag (apparently, the dangerous part of a laptop is its keyboard? That's all that distinguishes it from a tablet these days) and the ones with metal cases do a pretty great job of blocking X-ray. You can get bottles full of liquids and gels through that way, no problem. I haven't actually tried it with anything that could plausibly be considered a weapon, but that's only subset of prohibited stuff anyhow...

If security theater makes you "feel nicer", you're a weak-minded idiot and part of the problem.

Note that I have no problem with the security practices of a lot of the rest of the world. Unlike the USA, India actually has a terrorist problem, and they are way, *way* better about screening people... but it still takes less time than the USA's checkpoints! (At least, that was my experience the two times I've flown through Delhi.)