Originally Posted by
TSORon
The objective of posting the article was to show that Behavior Detection has some scientific backing. That there is a basis in science for Behavior Detection. Its not voodoo, not magic, but it is also not completely proven (or even close). The same can be said for psychology, astrophysics, and a few other areas where one can get a post-graduate degree. Behavior Detection is mostly psychology, which may very well be voodoo but I have seen it used effectively around the world.
You can always find someone out there who will poo-poo what someone else claims (Flat Earth-ers, Moon Landing, Area 51), someone out there believes that “Math” is not an exact science. Go figure. It does not matter how old the article is, nor how the professor is reimbursed or not reimbursed for his time with the TSA, but if it provides a “value add” to the TSA and its mission. Obviously the TSA thinks so, but Behavior Detection has its limitations and the TSA knows this. It cant tell you if someone is a terrorist. Sorry, not going to happen. It CAN tell you if someone is displaying the signs of deception in an unconscious way. What happens from there is up to the BDO and the other part of their training.
(disclaimer: I am not a BDO, nor do I have the training as one, but I find the concepts of their job fascinating)
At the risk of speaking for some of my fellow FTers, the thing I think we object to the most is just what you state -- the unproven aspects of "behavior detection." Like the War on Shampoo, the TSA or DHS has never produced any shred of peer-reviewed science concluding that the basic science underlying the SPOTNik program is sound. By parading around a bunch of people as SPOTNiks, you place innocent people into the position of being intimidated and spilling their guts -- sometimes even incriminating themselves by unwittingly surrendering their 5th Amendment rights. Someone exercising their rights by ignoring or ripping a SPOTNik a new one is immediately turned over to an airport cop for further harassment. Cost and questionable science aside, needless intimidation and harassment is what I assert most of us find quite objectionable.