Boston Globe Outs Secret TSA Tracking Program 'Quiet Skies' At Airports (bostonglobe.com)

The Boston Globe reports of a previously undisclosed program, called "Quiet Skies," that targets travelers who "are not under investigation by any agency and are not in the Terrorist Screening Data Base." The insights come from a TSA bulletin in March that describes the program's goal as thwarting threats to commercial aircraft "posed by unknown or partially known terrorists. The program "gives the agency broad discretion over which air travelers to focus on and how closely they are tracked," reports The Boston Globe. From the report: But some air marshals, in interviews and internal communications shared with the Globe, say the program has them tasked with shadowing travelers who appear to pose no real threat -- a businesswoman who happened to have traveled through a Mideast hot spot, in one case; a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, in another; a fellow federal law enforcement officer, in a third. It is a time-consuming and costly assignment, they say, which saps their ability to do more vital law enforcement work. TSA officials, in a written statement to the Globe, broadly defended the agency's efforts to deter potential acts of terror. But the agency declined to discuss whether Quiet Skies has intercepted any threats, or even to confirm that the program exists.

Already under Quiet Skies, thousands of unsuspecting Americans have been subjected to targeted airport and inflight surveillance, carried out by small teams of armed, undercover air marshals, government documents show. The teams document whether passengers fidget, use a computer, have a "jump" in their Adam's apple or a "cold penetrating stare," among other behaviors, according to the records. Air marshals note these observations -- minute-by-minute -- in two separate reports and send this information back to the TSA. All US citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for inclusion in Quiet Skies -- their travel patterns and affiliations are checked and their names run against a terrorist watch list and other databases, according to agency documents. The bulletin highlights 15 rules used to screen passengers. If someone is selected for surveillance, a team of air marshals will be placed on the person's next flight.

Comments

As someone on the spectrum

[burningcpu]

I tend to become the focus of 'that guy looks weird' profiling, because I tend to look, weird.

My comfortable state of a dead-eyed, nearly unblinking stare. I find eye contact to be invasive.

The upshot of this is that I have to pretend to be normal. I have to jiggle my eyes around. Remember to blink.

I don't like having to 'fake normal.' But if I don't fake it, I get hassled by every authoritarian-leaning personality I encounter.

Re:"Partially known"

[apoc.famine]

So your "solution" is to take everyone who might be against us, put them all in the same place, and make them miserable? Great idea!

Do you want jihadists? Because that's how you get jihadists.

Here's a better idea: Socialize these folks. Show them that what they think they hate isn't what they think it is. Listen to them. Figure out why they are angry. Work to assuage their fears, and make sure that they have what they need to live happy, comfortable lives.

And sure, this won't work for 100% of people. Adios is indeed the solution to them. But it will work for a damn good number of people. What you don't seem to realize is that immigrants aren't going to another country because they're happy and having a great time in their country. They're leaving because they are threatened, impoverished, or otherwise unable to have a fulfilling life in their home country.

If you shit all over those people, you're just making enemies. If you can make them feel welcome, you've not only gotten a friend, but you've now got ambassadors who can reduce the amount of hatred in their home country for yours. That's how you reduce all of the issues you identify, instead of increasing them they way your suggestions would actually function.

Overbooked flights

[pgn674]

Maybe sometimes airlines don't overbook their flights. Maybe sometimes when the gate desk claims the flight was overbooked, it's actually that air marshals are forcing their way onto the flight at the last minute.

When I see large, milataristic structures

[rsilvergun]

like the Stasi my first thought is, well, that's one way to do socialism.

One of the problems modern civilizations have is there's not enough work to keep everybody busy 16 hours a day. Not only that, but you've got to figure out how to give out food and shelter to people who, well, just plain aren't needed anymore. You can let them starve, but then they find themselves a strongman and he uses them for a coup. You can just give them food, but that pisses off anybody still working.

America's solution was the Military Industrial Complex. The excess productivity made possible by modern farming and manufacturing goes into an endless war machine. Given the scale of the Stasi that's probably what's going on. I know for a fact China's doing exactly that to absorb all the engineers they kept training.

Re:Practicing for Nation-wide Implementation

[Plus1Entropy]

most countries in Europe do afaik require id-cards

Ironically, none of the Nordic or Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland), which are often upheld as the classic examples of European Socialism, do.