TSA May Think You're a Terrorist

Free Market News
Dec. 29, 2005

If you're sitting in an airport waiting area, and some stranger strikes up a random conversation, you might want to put on your best smile and answer cheerfully. According to a USA Today article, that stranger might be a Transportation Security Administration "screener" looking to single you out as a terrorist threat. And if you show signs of being nervous, uneasy, or evasive, you may be deemed worthy of "extra scrutiny" from the TSA, and forced to undergo further questioning, body searches, and even police interrogation.

The article notes that "airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, and Miami recently began using the technique." This screening training is not confined to airports, however; other agencies trained in this behavior detection technique include transit workers in New York and Washington, U.S. Park Police (Statue of Liberty), and the New York police counterterrorism bureau. A public safety director at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is quoted as saying, "I don't want (officers) just sitting there waiting for a call to come in. I want them observing people, observing their behavior and engaging them in conversation. They're looking for people whose activities don't look right."

Meanwhile, the article notes that the American Civil Liberties Union says the technique leads to racial profiling and has sued to stop a behavior-screening program run by the Massachusetts State Police at Boston's Logan International Airport. Barry Steinhardt, a privacy law specialist at the ACLU, is quoted as declaring, "If you're going to allow police to make searches, question people, and even make arrests based on criteria rather than actual evidence of criminality, you're going to have racial profiling."