The NYCLU and the American Civil Liberties Union took the Transportation Security Administration to court today in an effort to uncover documents about a controversial passenger screening program used at airports nationwide.

The program is called Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT. TSA “behavior detection officers” watch passengers in airport screening areas for behaviors that the TSA associates with stress, fear or deception – sometimes also engaging travelers in casual conversation. The officers then flag certain people for additional inspection and questioning.

Government investigators and outside experts have criticized SPOT as ineffective, unscientific and wasteful. The program has cost over $1 billion since 2007 and has been blamed by passengers and TSA officers themselves for numerous cases of racial profiling.

Today’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit is seeking records related to any scientific basis for the program, its effectiveness and how much minorities are disproportionately singled out.