TSA Dumbassery: To Try To Spot Stressed-Out People In A Stressful Environment
Yaël Ossowski writes for Watchdog.org of the idiocy that is the TSA's behavioral "detection" program, in which the geniuses try to spot those rare stressed-out people at airports, where so many people are just slow-drawling, "What's that? I'm about to miss my plane? I'm cool, bro."
A Congressional Budget Office report from 2010 uncovered the program's "staffing levels" were the only performance metric to be found. According to the TSA, hiring of more behavior detection experts was the only way to "gauge how fast the program is growing."Though the program was set up to deter terrorists, the program has no way to measuring whether it's even come close to that goal.
Also found in the report is the revelation that most of the techniques employed by TSA agents for behavior detection are the work of Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco, one of the world's foremost experts on facial expressions.
Ekman says it "was not clear" whether this program could even be "used effectively in an airport environment," a place where individuals are routinely stressed and under pressure.
But despite this criticism, the TSA is relentless in defending the program and claiming it has been effective at deterring terrorists.
"Terrorists have used a variety of items and ways to attempt to inflict harm to aircraft -- everything from shoes to liquids -- but consistent across all methods of attack is the malicious intent of the actor," Feinstein told Watchdog.org.
"Looking for suspicious behavior is a common sense approach used by law enforcement and security personnel across the country and the world, that focuses on those behavioral indicators, rather than items, and when used in combination with other security layers helps mitigate a variety of threats."
I love the commenter "Uncle Bob" from the Watchdog site:
Uncle Bob
So a bunch of ignorant jack-holes that barely passed high school are now behavioral experts?
UPDATED: Here's an easy-to-read list from a leaked doc with all the things they look for. If you don't fit at least a few of them, you aren't human and breathing.
Here's one: "Wearing improper attire for location." I wear evening gown skirts as daywear. Eek! I must be heading off (with my bag full of bacon) to marry an ISIS fighter -- right after I bring down the plane with my thoughts.
Just like El Al. Except for the trained professionals, but the TSA is all show anyway.
MarkD at March 30, 2015 5:32 AM
Come on now, why would you expect the TSA to measure results? The TSA does not exist to produce results but simple to fool stupid American into thinking the government cares whether they live of die. It also has the side benefit of giving incompetent jackasses with personality disorders government jobs and benefits, you never know when they will be elevated to the status of cannon-fodder against the right-wing anti-government elements in our society.
warhawke223 at March 30, 2015 10:22 AM
I looked at the evaluation document and totaled my score. No wonder I got selected for "special screening" the last time I flew. If I wasn't with my wife, they probably would have called an "LEO" to look up my ass with a flashlight...
Of course, most of my points came from "arrogance" about the screening process. Basically, any expression of dislike or lack of meek compliance with the process is dangerous, in their view. My "cold stare" was probably enough to set off their alarms.
Gonna have to start working on my "warm stare."
Jay R at March 30, 2015 12:14 PM
One of my close male relatives was a Behavior Detection Officer (BDO) for years. He did not talk in depth about what he did differently than the average TSO (although I got some details), but they sent him to a special "training" class in Arizona for a week. I looked through his training materials and it was all stuff you could learn from the TV show "Lie to Me".
I love this relative, but to be honest he was considered EXTREMELY qualified for this position by TSA....he had an OK high school GPA and got an AA in criminal justice from a city college. Most of his BDO colleagues had high school diplomas or GEDs.
Everyone thinks I'm overreacting when I go through security at the airport and say they aren't doing anything to protect us so why should I have my genitals touched (?!), but after having 2 close relatives be TSA officers....frankly I feel like I have a special insight into the requirements to be an officer and I have a better chance of sneezing on a terrorist than they do of catching one.
Zoogie2 at March 30, 2015 5:50 PM
I just went through screening before flying out of Frankfurt (notoriously strict, or, at least, it has that appearance - pairs of men in fatigues open-carry sub-machine guns throughout the airport). Security was a piece of cake. They looked at me (really looked, not glanced). They asked questions. They made "small talk" - the kind intended to elicit anything odd - and stared, un-speaking, for some part of a minute. It "felt" thorough - like they were paying real attention. Then let me through the metal detector (yes, the old fashioned kind). It took maybe 10 minutes. And I didn't have to remove my shoes.
The plane landed in Atlanta, and OMG. The rigmarole. Lines after lines - 5 separate lines! Passport+customs screening, passport check (yes, two lines) and the officer only asked if our names were correct, escalators, pick up luggage, customs check - where they didn't even look up, drop off luggage, another security check (as if we had never gone through security for the flight we just took) - this was the TSA show where nobody looked at us or talked to us, and it was all about the process. Except for the one dude yelling, "Keep it moving, don't slow down!" (I am serious. This was his task, apparently. Because people faced with no remaining layover time tend to relax and take things slow.) Shoes off. It's not like we had access to the outside world during all this. We were kept in an isolated environment the entire time. What a fabulous waste of time and manpower.
I have not traveled internationally via air since before 9-11. I have come through customs from the Caribbean and Canada, however, and those were what you'd expect - a single passport/customs line where they actually look at you and talk to you, and then out the door. This, OTOH, was truly nuts.
flbeachmom at April 2, 2015 2:25 PM
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