TSA's Behavior Detection "Officers" Newsletter
Jul 31, 2015, 12:53 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
TSA's Behavior Detection "Officers" Newsletter
From The Intercept:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2...ous-offensive/
Lots of redactions in the following. What are they afraid of?
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...-redacted.html
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2...ous-offensive/
In response to The Intercept’s questions about the content and purpose of the newsletters, TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson said it was one of myriad methods used by the agency to engage and encourage communication across its workforce.
“An engaged and informed workforce is critical to TSA’s mission while ensuring that we treat all passengers fairly and with dignity and integrity,” the spokesman said via email.
“An engaged and informed workforce is critical to TSA’s mission while ensuring that we treat all passengers fairly and with dignity and integrity,” the spokesman said via email.
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...-redacted.html
Aug 1, 2015, 5:52 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: LAS
Posts: 1,279
I can see the logic in redacting the names and faces of the Spotdicks. TSA would claim they need to maintain their privacy as cutting edge undercover operatives. IMO, they don't want anyone to know they have such a stuuuupid job.
I'm sure taxpayer dollars paid for it. Yet, this is not marked as OUO, LES, SBU, SSI, or anything else that indicates that it should be protected from disclosure.
The better questions:
Under what authority is this PUBLIC information being (partially) withheld?
Was this sent using secure means (appropriate for something sensitive, but not classified)?
I'm sure taxpayer dollars paid for it. Yet, this is not marked as OUO, LES, SBU, SSI, or anything else that indicates that it should be protected from disclosure.
The better questions:
Under what authority is this PUBLIC information being (partially) withheld?
Was this sent using secure means (appropriate for something sensitive, but not classified)?
Aug 3, 2015, 11:47 am
#6
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 861
TSA’s Behavior Detection Program Has a Newsletter, and It’s Ridiculous
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2...ous-offensive/
"Much of the newsletter space is devoted to very lengthy regional articles about the weather, with headlines like, “Surviving the Snow in Bangor, Maine!” “Beating the Summer Heat in Milwaulkee!” and “Yes it Snows in Arizona!”
The newsletters also offer insights into the background of some behavior detection officers, who are supposed to be able to spot potential terrorists just by looking at them. “How many of us can look back about 20 years at the Susan Smith case, specifically at that famous news conference where she insisted there had been a carjacking and her children were in the car?” wrote one officer. “I know I turned to my husband and said, ‘She’s lying.’ I knew nothing about BDOs at that time; I just knew that her behaviors contradicted her words.”
Prior to joining TSA, the behavior detection officer worked as a travel agent for Walt Disney Company.
"Much of the newsletter space is devoted to very lengthy regional articles about the weather, with headlines like, “Surviving the Snow in Bangor, Maine!” “Beating the Summer Heat in Milwaulkee!” and “Yes it Snows in Arizona!”
The newsletters also offer insights into the background of some behavior detection officers, who are supposed to be able to spot potential terrorists just by looking at them. “How many of us can look back about 20 years at the Susan Smith case, specifically at that famous news conference where she insisted there had been a carjacking and her children were in the car?” wrote one officer. “I know I turned to my husband and said, ‘She’s lying.’ I knew nothing about BDOs at that time; I just knew that her behaviors contradicted her words.”
Prior to joining TSA, the behavior detection officer worked as a travel agent for Walt Disney Company.