Seen in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors.
TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program—called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique)—that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.
But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions—a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.
I’ve been calling Homeland Security folks the “Geheimstaatspolizei”, in honor of the authoritarianism they remind me of. However, now, I’m wondering if I might need to re-christen those “behavior-detection officers” as “thought police”.
In all seriousness, this is probably not a bad thing, particularly if it steers airport security theater away from hassling business travelers, frisking little old grandmothers, and seemingly pulling aside folks of middle-eastern and south-Asian descent out of an abundance of paranoia; and instead focuses security folks attentions into identifying folks with nefarious plans in mind..it will be a good thing.
