Evaluation without effect from TSA staff as "behavior detection program" for detecting suspicious individuals to protect airport security

ByBill Alldredge

It was organized with the simultaneous terrorist attacks in the United StatesTransport and security agency(TSA) Introduces a "behavior detection program" to judge suspicious individuals moving around the airport from gestures etc. We are in security. However, regarding its effectiveness, there are views from the staff questioning "there is no scientific basis".

Bad Trip: Debunking the TSA's 'Behavior Detection' Program | American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/report/bad-trip-debunking-tsas-behavior-detection-program?redirect=bad-trip

TSA knows its airport behavior detection program is ineffective | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/tsa-knows-its-airport-behavior-detection-program-is-ineffective/

Based on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) established in the United StatesThe American Free Human Rights AssociationAccording to a report prepared by ACLU by TSA 's document, the document states that there are many voices from inside asking questions about the effectiveness of the behavior detection program. In this program, 3000 staff members are deployed in 176 airports across the country with a budget of 1.5 billion dollars (about 170 billion yen) in the past 10 years.

(PDF)Dem17-tsa_detection_report-v02.pdf


This program is to find persons who have signs of tension, fear, deception, etc. in the airport, conduct surveys and interrogations, and in response to the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, terrorists It is introduced for the purpose of putting out. However, it is pointed out that problems such as scientific, ineffective, wasteful budget etc. have been pointed out about the method. Furthermore, it seems that the problem comes out from various angles, such as pointed out that judgment by the staff is taking racial discriminative hues.

In publishing this survey report, ACLU says, "From academic research and TSA's internal documentation, the view that action detection programs are unscientific and unreliable is supported, TSA has multiple We have over-evaluated the scientific effectiveness of the behavior detection program against Congressional members and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the course of the year ", which shows a negative view.

ByWayne Surber

TSA, on the other hand, identifies terrorists in the airport from behaviors and linguistic factorsSPOT(Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques: Techniques for reviewing passengers by observation) The following comments to defend the effect of the program are rebutted.

"TSA's behavior detection program approach is based on an objective process using signs and psychological thresholds indicated by actions to identify and contact a person with a high risk such as having a malicious purpose It is planned to advance to further safety assessment.This is one element of TSA's efforts to mitigate threats to public transportation and it tries to threaten aviation It is an important TSA system to deter, detect and interfere with intentioned people. "

ByNick Gray

Before the ACLU's report Four years ago, the Government Accountability Office pointed out in 2013 that TSA is deficient in the process to prove the effectiveness of the program. In the 400 surveys carried out at that time, the probability of finding a person who actually took actions to deceive others was only about the same level as saying the front and back with coin toss. In addition, as a result of the investigation on the actual situation of 2011 to 2012 in the same agency, about 7,700 people were investigated at 49 airports as investigations, 365 people were arrested, but most of them were medicines It is said that it was a person committing a crime related to a related crime or illegal entry, and it was clear that it was not a terrorist.

ByChris Davis