Compilation of Spotting and Behavior Analysis techniques
 

Let's compile a collection of spotting and behavioral analysis techniques used by the TSA. This way we can avoid or prevent being spotted and travel that much easier, i.e. without the inconvenience caused.

It would also help to know what kind of behavior to avoid when standing in line for immigration or at the TSA checkpoint, in order not to trigger a "response".

There might be things we do all the time that we find totally normal but that are conspicuous to them.

Bring it on!

Good luck;)

You are an Evul Turrist & I claim my reward.

Demand that the officer be more polite. I hear that usually works out well.

I don't talk to spot & I could think of something else but I don't need a vac from here:D:D:D

Edit to add:
I like to screw with them all time at work & they don't have answers.

Have fun. I look forward to reading the list.

My favorite is right after the WTMD,

Him "So where are you going today?"
Me "Chicago just like it says on my boarding pass that you are holding in your hand"

Here is an article from today's NYT addressing the issue:
http://jetlagged.blogs.nytimes.com/2...afer/#comments

The comments are particularly interesting.

I honestly don't know why it would require luck or be a problem to compile a list of methods used for spotting and behavioral detection. It's not like it's a secret art. Sure, the TSA would like to keep their methods under wraps if possible, but after all it's just about psychology and behavior, so some common sense should be able to figure out most of the techniques.

One of the commentators of the article said that he gets very nervous and fidgety in crowded situations. Just like the kind we experience when standing in line at customs or the security checkpoint. So then that person would experience a rise in blood pressure, different breathing, searching around nervously in pockets for where in the hell he put his passport and so forth. And, bang, you are spotted.

Other things might include how you are dressed, like wearing a thick and closed coat inside. Well it might be you are just always cold due to a thyroid problem for example. Oops, secondary screening.

Unfortunately, I am not well versed in psychology and BD so that's why I though it would be good to rely on the experience of members here to see which other techniques they have experienced or know about.

So?

It seems like parts of the FACS (facial coding system) are actually available online because the psychology professor who formulated it is selling the method to the TSA. Looks rather complicated. Usually complicated stuff is not terribly efficient, especially if you ask simple people to do it. It seems they have a false positive rate of 99% and that even a national review board found that there was a massive potential for invasion of privacy. I know I wouldn't want to be judged by the way my upper lip curls or stiffens when I am confronted with what are rather invasive and annoying searches anyway.

Here is a link:

http://www.face-and-emotion.com/data...anual/TOC.html

And another one:

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/0...ogy_of_be.html

You're not sure and have no control anyway
 

I believe the only truthful answer is

Him "So where are you going today?"
Me "Where ever the RJ copilot navigates us to, which hopefully will be Chicago like it says on my boarding pass that you are holding in your hand." :D

It doesn't require luck, or constitute a problem to compile a list of available literature or share experiences. The problem is that such a list is not likely to be useful for your stated purpose to "avoid or prevent being SPOTted." SPOT is based on involuntary behaviors.

There have been a lot of articles published about SPOT and BDOs, and there is a fair amount of scientific literature available about behavioral analysis. The problem is that TSA doesn't release the info necessary to have a useful debate on the issue. Authors are left to compile what information is available, and fill in the details with their best guesses. The people who know are forbidden to talk about the details of the program. As a result, publically available information could be interesting, but is not always as useful as you might like.

When I say this, it's not my intention to turn this into a typical TSA bash-fest. But for all the artful dodging about the program (comment not directed at you personally), combined with the hit rate of how many actual threats to aviation security that have been neutralized, this all just seems to be a waste of money.

I know that ROI isn't a fair measure of what you do, but with all the TSA shenanigans out there (failed Red Team tests, TSAers, including BDOs, getting arrested, etc), the program in which you are trained (again, not a personal comment at you), makes me feel you are not trained well enough to do an effective job, and that your position is simply an attempt at justification at keeping the TSA funded and afloat.

Not to mention quotas (I have nothing to back this up, mind you) I would bet the TSA likely bestows upon you.

Just my two cents.

How 'bout let's don't stand in line at all? Works every time.

They'll NEVER get the secret password of DeMolay out of me...

Me: "I don't discuss my travel plans."

If I ever need to feel lucky, I read threads like this. In the last 24 months I have passed through TSA checkpoints approx. 267 times, in 40+ different airports around the US. I don't hold a US passport, almost always just have carry-on bags (and therefore have packed a reasonable amount into them) and I can confirm that:

1. I have never once had any more interaction with a TSA agent other than "stop. go. let me check the size of that liquid container. let me see your boarding pass."

2. Never once have I been asked about my travel plans, where I'm coming from, where I'm going, what sort of mood I'm in, who I'm going to see, etc.

Having said that, I think the whole process is incredibly inefficient compared with travel through airports in virtually any country in the world (I recently spent a while in East Africa and was shocked at how polite and painless the whole airport process was) - there is a lot they could learn in the US. But for those of you who think that you are continually being monitored for the slightest reaction and have to have pre-rehearsed lines to make it through the checkpoint without being "detected" you are reading far too much into things! Don't forget - behaving like that just means they have won :)