Newsstand - Behavior scrutinized at O'Hare

Security screeners schooled in the psychology of observation are on the job at O'Hare International Airport, pulling aside passengers whose behavior may be a tipoff of hostile intentions, the nation's transportation security chief told the Tribune Monday.

The federal behavior detection officers are on the lookout for passengers displaying extraordinary stress and fear, or signs of deception during questioning, all earmarks of terrorists who may be on scouting missions to find weak links in airport security, said Kip Hawley, administrator of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

"While we still need to screen baggage and carry-on items, the real focus is on people and creating a new layer of unpredictability at the security checkpoints," Hawley said during a visit Monday to O'Hare to see the new security regimen in action.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-security_18dec18,0,3329773.story?coll=chi_tab01_la yout


But critics say the new program, called Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, or SPOT, doesn't work.

Independent security experts say it is unproven at best, accomplishing little but to catch common criminals ranging from those with arrest warrants outstanding to deadbeat dads.

Possible way to deal with the walking-talking hot air bags:

1. Talk away -- or pretend to blabber away - on the cell phone.

2. Pretend that you don't understand and respond in a foreign language, or a made up language.

3. "My mother told me not to talk to strangers." :D

Borrow from the Family Guy episode I saw last night. Start yelling "I need an adult! I need an adult!" in your best Chris or Peter Griffin voice.

But he raised a red flag among the two elite screeners.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!:D

...

HAHHAHAHAHAHA

.... I'm sorry...

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

"elite screeners" ... that's funny. someone call merriam-webster, we have a new example for "oxymoron."

Security screeners schooled in the psychology of observation are on the job at O'Hare International Airport, pulling aside passengers whose behavior may be a tipoff of hostile intentions, the nation's transportation security chief told the Tribune Monday..

I don't have hostile intentions per se, but I'm extremely hostile toward any TSA employee that attempts to further involve themselves in my affairs.

The federal behavior detection officers are on the lookout for passengers displaying extraordinary stress and fear, or signs of deception during questioning, all earmarks of terrorists who may be on scouting missions to find weak links in airport security, said Kip Hawley, administrator of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

Deception during questioning? Is telling a TSA employee to go do something along the lines of the East St. Louis pimp's suggestion to Chevy Chase in Vacation or Tommy's (Joe Pesci) suggestion to Officer Bing in Goodfellas an example of deception or just clear and to the point?

Possible way to deal with the walking-talking hot air bags:

1. Talk away -- or pretend to blabber away - on the cell phone.

2. Pretend that you don't understand and respond in a foreign language, or a made up language.

3. "My mother told me not to talk to strangers." :Dor simply come out and ask them things like:

so how did you like your s.p.o.t. training?
do you think s.p.o.t. works?
what about my behavior triggered your s.p.o.t actions?

after you watch them pick their jaw up off the floor, say something like: "now if you don't haven anything else to say, i'll be on my way. thank you and have a nice day"

all earmarks of terrorists who may be on scouting missions to find weak links in airport security

Oh, like that's a challenge... :rolleyes:

These days, every time I go to an airport, I exhibit "extraordinary stress and fear, or signs of deception during questioning," but that's generally caused by the security rather than being a terrorist.

Mike

Deception during questioning?

The classic symptom is for the person under interrogation not to look the interrogator in the eye. My guess is that most parents pick up this "SPOT" skill in less than 60 hours.

The classic symptom is for the person under interrogation not to look the interrogator in the eye. My guess is that most parents pick up this "SPOT" skill in less than 60 hours.

Given we are talking about the TSA, even the basics would probably take more than that -- especially if government-paid consultants are involved and billing by the hour. :D

How much time does it take to teach someone to look a person straight in the eye while deceiving them? Not a whole lot going by post-incident investigations into some terrorist attacks were the perpetrator was stopped at one point but allowed to proceed anyway.

That "classic symptom" is very much "market dependent".

I always look a person in the eye when I tell them to go pound sand. :)

While the "anything for security" comments are basically unimaginative, some of the comments on the other side of the debate are in the Hall of Fame. Here are some of my favorites (so far):

"Do the elite screeners have super elite screeners monitoring them? How many hours of specialized training will the super elite screeners get?"

"What is the penalty for refusing to cooperate with the elite screeners? Detention? Arrest? Waterboarding?"

"beware sheeple.. you're being scared into complacency!"

"Those securities traders, you just got to watch out for them."

"Besides, the next nervous sweaty guy being arrested will be our president before having to give a speech.

Maybe this idea isn't so bad after all..."




This one deserves a box of its own:

"Welcome citizens to your future. Constant surveillance by uniformed guards some of whom you see and some you do not. Guards too young to remember the last time government stepped on the constitution and ruined careers and lives of its citizens. Guards who are products of a poor school system that can produce a Presidential press secretary who was unaware of the brush with nuclear annihilation that was the 1962 Cuban missle crisis. Guards whose job skills are limited or that have been rendered irrelevant as corporations move both manufacturing and service industries to Asia and Latin America."

These days, every time I go to an airport, I exhibit "extraordinary stress and fear, or signs of deception during questioning," but that's generally caused by the security rather than being a terrorist.

But this applies to everyone at the airport. EVERYONE is under stress. :eek: OMG, the TSA claim is correct, stress is the sign of a potential terrorist, thus EVERYONE is a Potential Terrorist and must be treated accordingly. :td:

SPOT em all, Denno. After you SPOT 100% of the sheeple, then what do you do? You're back to where you started.

This is so stupid. What are they going to determine if someone is acting nervous and not giving eye contact ?? A lot of people are like that, I see it every day. People are so out of it when they check in. They barely listen to anything we say. They are always talking over us asking rapid-fire (stupid) questions. If that's what they're looking at they might as well suspect 90 percent of passengers on each airplane. Unbelievable but not surprising.