Posted on 08/03/2011 8:52:28 AM PDT by ccj85
Passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport will notice the security screeners are chattier than usual, but it’s not an improved customer service policy.
On Tuesday the Transportation Security Administration began a test-run at Logan of its SPOT program, which stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques. SPOT uses trained screeners known as Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) to determine if passengers are a threat, based on their reactions to a set of routine questions.
“The vast majority of passengers will experience a casual greeting conversation with the BDO as they go through identity verification,” a TSA spokesperson said. “A small portion of passengers may get selected for an extended, but still limited conversation.”
According to the Boston Herald, the BDOs will ask three to four questions — from “Where have you been?” to “Do you have a business card?” and “Where are you traveling?” — while looking for minute facial cues that may indicate deception or malicious intent.
Since its creation in 2007, TSA’s SPOT program has grown almost fifteen-fold. As of May 2010, about 3,000 BDOs were deployed at 161 airports nationwide at an annual cost of more than $200 million.
So far, after three years of operation and almost $1 billion spent, SPOT has never been scientifically proven effective and has never caught one actual terrorist.
Read full article at: http://thedc.com/neGK6n
(Excerpt) Read more at thedc.com ...
This is bad stuff.
I usually wear one of those black nylon wallet-like things around my neck for my ID and boarding pass, etc. As I was prepping to leave, I picked it up and it felt a bit heavy. I looked in and found five 9mm rounds. I must’ve shoved them in there while doing a quick clean-up to show off the house to prospective buyers. I could only imagine TSA shutting down the entire concourse at West Palm Beach Int’l Airport. You were lucky in having a couple of sensible ones. But they should’ve returned your ammo.
I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but I wasn’t about to make a stink, get pulled out of line and miss my flight. I guess beneath this rough-hewn exterior beats the heart of a lamb.
Guess no one here has flown through Amsterdam, either.
I believe this is one of the techniques the Israelis use.
It’s selective, and of course, the Israelis also go by things such as nationality, travel history, etc.
On the other hand, this is intrusive in its own way. However, if they’d stop taking away our handcream and lip balm and submitting us to complete waste of time searches, I’d be willing to go for this.
My mom is a granny and she got the full pat-down routine, including examination of her wheelchair (airport provided), scanning her oxygen concentrator, making her get off her oxygen and walking through the metal detector. She was puffing for 10 minutes afterwards.
She could have handled a few questions a lot easier.
You can find fault with any system, IMO this is better than pat-downs, though it sounds like they won’t be removing that, so in that sense I agree with you.
“But they should’ve returned your ammo.”
Perhaps, but I was just happy to get out of there without a body-cavity search. I consider the cost of five rounds a very small penalty for being a dumbazz.
Maybe ... but I'm confident in TSA's ability to screw it up.
It's about dang time.
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