Categories | Lawsuits & Litigation Article

ACLU Puts TSA Crime Prevention Program On The SPOT

February 10th, 2017 • Lawsuits & Litigation • 2 minute read
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Author Sara E. Teller

ACLU Puts TSA Crime Prevention Program On The SPOT

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may have overstated the scientific validity of a program that uses behavior detection to spot ill-intended passengers, at least according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  The TSA currently attempts to spot signs of stress, fear or deception in flight-goers by using a list of more than 90 criteria to weed out potential problem passengers.  Fishy behaviors may include fidgeting, avoiding eye contact or making questionable comments.  Agents, who are sometimes dressed casually and unassuming, are trained to approach individuals and engage them in conversation, asking probing questions that may lead to suspicion.  This program is called SPOT -- Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, which the TSA paid more than $1 billion to institute back in 2007.  When it was launched, 3,000 behavior detection agents were assigned to 176 airports nationwide.

Image Courtesy of AP Photos/Elaine ThompsonImage Courtesy of AP Photos/Elaine Thompson

The TSA says the argument is bogus, and the tactics used are indeed effective and timeless. According to the agency, the principles SPOT is based on have been replicated and widely used over the years by members of law enforcement.  Spokesperson Bruce Anderson says that unlike technology, SPOT won't become obsolete, going on to claim the program includes many facets logically designed to deter terrorist threats.  In a statement made this week, the TSA argued its point, "TSA’s behavior detection approach is designed to identify and engage individuals who may be high-risk (e.g., possess malicious intent) on the basis of an objective process using behavioral indicators and thresholds, and then route them to additional security screening.  It is one element of TSA’s efforts to mitigate threats against the traveling public, and is critical to TSA’s systems approach to deter, detect, and disrupt individuals who pose a threat to aviation.”

Sources:

TSA's behavior detection program lacks scientific basis, ACLU saysTSA's own files say its program to stop terrorists is unreliable, ACLU says
Sara E. Teller

About Sara E. Teller

Sara is a credited freelance writer, editor, contributor, and essayist, as well as a novelist and poet with nearly twenty years of experience. A seasoned publishing professional, she's worked for newspapers, magazines and book publishers in content digitization, editorial, acquisitions and intellectual property. Sara has been an invited speaker at a Careers in Publishing & Authorship event at Michigan State University and a Reading and Writing Instructor at Sylvan Learning Center. She has an MBA degree with a concentration in Marketing and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, graduating with a 4.2/4.0 GPA. She is also a member of Chi Sigma Iota and a 2020 recipient of the Donald D. Davis scholarship recognizing social responsibility. Sara is certified in children's book writing, HTML coding and social media marketing. Her fifth book, PTSD: Healing from the Inside Out, was released in September 2019 and is available on Amazon. You can find her others books there, too, including Narcissistic Abuse: A Survival Guide, released in December 2017.

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