- by Fernando Arroyos
Security at any cost appears to be the standard at airport security checkpoints. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) there are 3,000 Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) trained to detect behavioral clues of wrongful purpose. TSA Administrator John Pistole notes that law enforcement and military have been using behavior-detection techniques for quite a while and that the behavioral clues come from FBI and DEA criteria. Indicators BDOs look out for are fidgeting, excessive sweating and wearing heavy clothes in warm climate. Pistole notes that BDOs are “looking for bad people” regardless of weapons; they observe travelers from different angles and use a point system to score suspicious behavior. If enough indicators are triggered the passenger is singled out for “enhanced” screening at checkpoints, including a pat-down and search of personal property. TSA says it prohibits racial profiling and has begun collecting data about BDO referrals and whether it can begin tracking race and national origin of passengers referred for enhanced screening.
Within the airport checkpoints BDOs have the power to profile whoever they feel is suspicious; BDOs are quasi cops within their boundaries. The work of BDOs at airports relies heavily on the idea of policing. BDOs exercise power through surveillance, the use of a point system, and aggressive social control, enhanced screening at checkpoints. The use of “enhanced” is a more polished way of saying intensive. The idea behind the intensive check points is to deter travelers from engaging in risky behavior. However when profiling occurs and preferential treatment is given to some the security network is weakened. Wrong doers can find ways to pass security check points while resources are being wasted on profiled travelers who are probably innocent or probably not, it’s a chance. Although a criterion exists there is too much subjectivity involved which undermines the purpose of having one to treat everyone equally.
People believe a tradeoff between security and liberty or security and privacy is necessary to keep us safe. However, as Gilliom and Monahan put it many travelers might not object in principle to random searches or even profiling, but they find it insulting that they would be chosen for systematic intensive screening. (Gilliom, Monahan 109). BDOs have the power to subject travelers, not all travelers are given intensive screenings. Although not mentioned in the article but follows along the same lines of surveillance and security are pre-clearance programs. Gilliom and Monahan mentioned the NEXUS program which fast tracks travelers who pay $50, undergo a back ground check, interview, and are given a RFID card which substitutes for a passport (Gilliom, Monahan 112). TSA also has a fast track program called TSA pre-check. It’s interesting, although you go through a process and pay to be “fast tracked” there is no guarantee. Taken from TSA’s website “TSA will always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport and no individual will be guaranteed TSA Pre✓™ screening.” Preferential services such as NEXUS and TSA Pre-Check which facilitate security detailing employed by BDOs should all be eliminated and standard inclusive procedures taken up. Inclusive procedures eliminate profiling treating every traveler equally regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or political stance and thus maximizing security.
Sources Cited
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304632204579336984217416844
http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/what-tsa-precheck
SuperVision, by John Gilliom and Torin Monahan
I agree with inclusive screening and treating everyone equally. Only when they see suspicious signs like sweating, wearing heavy clothes on nicer days or anything else that fits into that category, should they take the correct procedures to take the search further into that particular person. With something like the Nexus system, that sounds good but when you begin to think further about it, criminals would find a way to do this and be cleared and then carry out something heinous. Instead of using their brains to do something good in the world, they are using it for the wrong things. My 76 year old mom likes to travel but when all these aggressive procedures were in place for security purposes, she has felt violated and not treated nicely and almost treated suspiciously at times because of the attitude taken by the TSA agents. ~Shari Gray~
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Shari that they should take the correct procedures only when they see “suspicious” signs and should treat everyone equally. I think regardless of having the inclusive procedure, they will still pull aside certain people and pat them down because of post 9/11. For example, my family also loves traveling. We all went to India this past winter break. My brother ( who is Vice President of the Sikh Student Association at UCSD) and I did a little experiment at the airport. Both of my brothers wear religious turbans on their heads and my dad doesn't. We told our dad to act suspicious at the security checkpoint like not let go of his bags and told him not to take his shoes off. Even though my dad was wearing a large pete coat and acted suspiciously, he didn't get pulled out for special screening. On the other hand, my brothers appeared completely normal and followed instructions but they got pulled out for enhanced screening. They mostly patted down their turbans, and this has happened to us a number of times. Not only us, it has happened to our friends who also wear turbans. We came to a conclusion that even if standard inclusive procedures are taken up, my brothers will always go through enhanced screening because of their religious turbans.
ReplyDelete-Mandeep Thind
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DeleteI couldn’t disagree more with the concept of “inclusive procedures” and the objective of treating everyone equally at TSA checkpoints. Everyone is not equally dangerous. Clearly, a 87-year-old grandmother in a wheelchair or a 4-year-old girl carrying a teddy bear do not pose the same security risk as a 22-year-old male displaying suspicious behavior. Behavior observation and other pre-determined characteristics (yes, profiling) are far more accurate in evaluating potential threats than are random searches. Current TSA practices are a sham and carried out primarily for show (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/airport-security_n_4494308.html). When I am about to board an aircraft, I’m not interested in and do not expect to be treated the same way as a double amputee veteran returning home from war. Israel’s Ben Gurion airport faces more terrorist threats than any other airport in the world and necessarily has become the gold standard in airport security. The airport’s security is achieved primarily by behavior observation, common sense, and consistency – practices which have been naively avoided by the TSA, under the guise of “fairness.” (http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/06/19/what-israeli-airport-security-teaches-the-world/) Travelers need effective security, not a show of fairness and equal treatment for unequal threats.
DeleteJesse Ryckman - sorry forgot name the first time
I find that this topic is difficult for me to establish a clear opinion on, as I can understand the arguments being made by both sides. The necessity of increased surveillance and policing in airports post 9/11 is clear, but in failing to apply standards equally, I agree that the efficacy of the security system is questionable. Profiling undoubtedly occurs, and in doing so, BDO's are sure to underestimate or overlook "bad people" who are not fitted to their working definition--thus, the idea of equal treatment is not so much to establish fairness and protect the TSA from accusations of racism, but rather to ensure that no one is slipping through the cracks. Speaking personally, I am always stopped and searched more carefully by airport security, for although I am an unassuming fair-skinned young female, my name is distinctly Arabic, and recognizably Muslim, and while it can be highly irritating at times, I respect an inclusive system that acknowledges and addresses all potential threats rather than one which picks and chooses based on personal opinions. The allowance of the TSA pre-check will certainly undermine the system by prioritizing convenience over its real purpose, security.
ReplyDeleteAyesha Ali
I found the Nexus Program and the TSA's Fast Track program to be very interesting since I never knew that one could pay to be tracked in return for convenience. I believe this article brings up the idea between choice and coercion because in one way, we are forced to comply to the rules of the TSA and the security checkpoints, and we do so because it 'appears' to guarantee security and the society believes that the system is effective. That is why there are individuals who 'choose' to reveal their identity and buy the fast tracking program not only for convenience, but because it appears to be helping the system in maintaining security measures at the airport. In addition, because the TSA officers and Behavior Detection Officers 'appear' to be legitimate, we never question their behaviors when they single out a passenger for enhanced screening. We assume and believe that they are accurate in their detection and in fulfilling their duties in maintaining security.
ReplyDeleteIt states that inclusive procedures eliminate profiling treating every traveler equally regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or political stance and thus maximizing security. But the issue is can the procedures really achieve this goal? As Gilliom and Monahan mention in the book, as pervasive and impressive as surveillance systems are, they don’t always produce the desired results. I see the results would probably be that they join and even advance the existing racial and other types of profiling patterns tied with inequalities of race, class, and gender. My personal experience is that every time I return from my home country, the custom stops me every time and checks my luggage with very insulting attitude. They know I’m a Asian student, which equates to carrying food with MSG. Every time, they confiscate my stuff without MSG, as long as it’s food. Getting through the custom has been a painful experience for me since I feel violated and have nowhere to complain.
ReplyDeleteYu Fu
While it's nice to think that the TSA can effectively and efficiently treat everyone who goes through airports equally, in practice it's not really feasible. The BDOs are supposed to be measuring people's behaviors, seeing if they act suspiciously, such as sweating profusely, not making eye contact with security officials, wearing heavy clothing on a hot day and so on. Unfortunately, that often leads to racial profiling, but that could be just the result of poor training and letting ingrained prejudices influence you. With the correct training (which the TSA is in severe lack of, try going to Israel and getting your training done there) BDOs can not only make airports more secure (as much as they can be anyways, while operating under the assumption that terrorists are trying to get onto planes) but more efficient. The unfortunate result of treating everyone equally is giving eighty year old women in wheelchairs intensive screening for the sake of "equality," while still singling out "suspicious" people based on their ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteBriAnne Lynn
I personally believe that TSA security screening procedures are mostly for show. TSA methods are responsible for the negative connotations there are for being in an airport. Their strategies are unwelcoming, invasive, rude, and definitely infringe on personal privacy rights. TSA screening checkpoints are the reason for all the bad connotations associated with travel and being in the airport. But although screening processes tend to isolate certain races, it is a statistical fact that certain races are more prone to commit airport crime. It is a social fact that law enforcement officers cannot ignore in their endeavor to prevent plane hijackings.
ReplyDeleteSharlene Djuhari
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