I can't quite work out how I feel about this so I thought I'd share and get everyone else's perspective. I was travelling from BZN to EWR on 7/14 and found that two out of four checkpoints were operational with around a five minute wait to get to the belts, although this was probably going to increase over the next ten minutes as the EWR, LAX and ORD bound pax moved airside. Most pax appeared to be travelling for leisure.

A TSO came through the checkpoint and started asking pax if they had any questions about the screening process, and also asking conversational questions like "are you going to Disneyland?" and telling me about how his son was just finishing a posting to a USAF base not far from where I live.

The guy was totally pleasant, polite and professional, but a part of me wondered if his time couldn't have been better spent expediting pax through the checkpoint. Having said that, the two checkpoints that were open were well staffed and he clearly couldn't have opened another one on his own. On the other hand, if he wasn't fulfilling an essential role then why was he there at all? Presumably it takes (your) tax dollars to have him there?

Thoughts welcomed.

A guess only, but I get the feeling you had an encounter with a Behavior Detection Officer (BDO). Their job is in particular to observe passengers for behaviors that might signal a threat to an aircraft. Asking questions and providing advise enhances the officers ability to observe actions and reactions, and therefore assists them in their job. Being nice while doing so also helps them by not presenting a threatening presence when talking with the passengers.

Just a guess mind you, but it sounds about right to me.

So, waste of taxpayer money.

Yes, you nailed it.

Stipulated, the "behavioral detection" portion of it is a waste. However, if it somehow manages to get a TSA employee to function in a helpful fashion (even directing a lost passenger to the nearest washroom) it's less wasteful than anything else the TSA is doing.

That said, I see no reason for such to be a federal position when there are volunteers doing that exact sort of thing at some airports. (The "Sky Harbor Navigators" in their purple jackets, as one example.)

So are you implying that by simply ignoring said BDO -- not in a brusque manner, just simply not wanting to engage in conversation -- he could have escalated the matter and had you tagged for additional screening?

Which airport was it where the TSA escalated the screening because the woman was wearing a rival team's jersey through the checkpoint?

It would seem that a TSA employee can escalate the screening for any reason all, whether valid or not.

Why would I be nice to someone trampling on my Constitutional rights?

The entire premise of SPOT and BDOs hinges on the assumption that everyone flying is in a good mood: that they're embarking on their Disney World vacation or honeymoon or are about to seal a business deal or are going to their son's wedding.

Guess what? Some passengers are flying to funerals; others are flying to visit sick relatives who may have days left to live.

And the last thing those passengers need is to be judged harshly, and potentially face extra screening, because they did not sufficiently satisfy a BDO that their jitters are not a precursor to blowing up a plane.

PHL, traveling due to the death of a family member:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5gtmRsyofk

"How does it feel to be a Cowboy's fan in Philadelphia?" - TSA clerk

And some of us can not hear well enough to engage in conversation at a noisy CP. Sometimes I do not know people are talking to me. If I ignore a BDO because I can not hear the BDO does that mark me for extra screening?

It sounds right to me, too.

Question: What happens if I'm preoccupied or simply not interested in engaging in conversation with a TSO who, like you, I suspect is a BDO? As we both have agreed, a TSO can ask anything he or she wants. However, I am not aware of any enforceable law that requires I respond. I don't know your opinion of the the BDO program, but mine is that it's utterly ridiculous -- I've explained why in other threads and won't go into it again here. My inclination when a state actor asks me something which he has no business either asking or knowing the answer to is to say, more or less politely (depending on the question, the context, and how it's asked), "None of your business."

What happens then?

That's all true but it doesn't go far enough. What kind of person is in a bad mood when talking to a screening clerk?

The kind of person who flies a lot and therefore encounters screening clerks frequently.

What kind of person is friendly and cooperative when talking to a screening clerk?

The kind of person who wants to avoid calling attention to himself.

What kind of person most wants to avoid calling attention to himself?

So yeah, what you say above is true and that by itself makes the BDO and SPOT and other rubbish an outrage, but in addition, the judgments they make are the opposite of the judgments they should be making.

Leave aside the fact that they are not trained enough or intelligent enough to make any judgments. IF somebody does want to do something to harm an aircraft, that person is going to engage with the screening clerk politely and respectfully and answer whatever idiotic questions the screening clerk asks. That person is going to hand over his water bottle at the gate for magic-strip testing, while leaving his deadly 11-ounce shaving cream can concealed in his roll-aboard. That person is not going to hand a suspicious NEXUS card to the document scribbler, and is going to answer promptly and accurately when the document scribbler asks for his or her name, without pointing out that the name is written on the boarding pass, or stating shock that the document scribbler can't read.

The scary terrorist who is going to blow up a plane with toothpaste, water, and a nail file is going to exhibit all the behaviors that the TSA takes to indicate that a passenger is not a threat.

I'm not sure if TSORon was implying anything of the sort.

However; you are 100% correct. A BDO can tag you for additional screening simply because you did not want to engage in conversation. You can also be tagged for being the wrong color, having (or not having) an accent, wearing loose fitting (or skin tight) clothing. In fact a BDO can tag you for additional screening for any reason whatsoever. Since the whole concept is nothing but voodoo science any reason is as good as any other.

google "tsa chatdowns"

USATODAY

"Chat-downs already are controversial in their trial stage. Civil-liberties advocates and some critics of the TSA see them as another government invasion of fliers' privacy, a hassle for mostly law-abiding passengers or ineffectual.

"They're asking questions that people have a right not to answer," says Mike German, senior policy counsel at the ACLU. "It's nobody's business � and certainly not the government's business � where you're traveling and why."

So far, only 48 travelers out of about 132,000 who have been questioned here at Logan have refused to answer the questions, and instead their carry-on bags were physically searched."