Do you fidget?
Do you yawn?
Do you clear your throat conspicuously?
Do you whistle?
Do you sweat?
Do you stare?
Do you look at the floor?
Do you sit up straight?
Do you appear to have recently shaved your beard?
Do you appear arrogant?
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If so, you may wish to take your next trip by car, train, or Disney Cruise as the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) may well snatch you up, pat you down, interrogate your ass-if-not-your-soul if you display these and/or other characteristics its agents now use to nab airport-undesirables.
The Intercept got hold of a TSA document (below), its profiling checklist aimed at identifying terrorists in/near/on/thinking of/dreaming of planes. Its program's called SPOT -- Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques -- and I quickly wonder if Dick-and-Jane run it.
Because I wonder, too if the folks behind the list really do appreciate, even if silently, its absurdity or if it's a wordywordy, seriously considered cover for racial/ethnic/religious...well-you-know.
The Intercept tells us
"The checklist ranges from the mind-numbingly obvious, like “appears to be in disguise,” which is worth three points, to the downright dubious, like a bobbing Adam’s apple. Many indicators, like “trembling” and “arriving late for flight,” appear to confirm allegations that the program picks out signs and emotions that are common to many people who fly."
TSA is fast to say that the program is more "layered" than it may at first appear.
Still, The Intercept goes on,
"Since its introduction in 2007, the SPOT program has attracted controversy for the lack of science supporting it. In 2013, the Government Accountability Office found that there was no evidence to back up the idea that “behavioral indicators … can be used to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security.” After analyzing hundreds of scientific studies, the GAO concluded that 'the human ability to accurately identify deceptive behavior based on behavioral indicators is the same as or slightly better than chance.'"
Ahh.
And Dick, Jane, and SPOT have spent just under $1B on the program since 2007.
Good Dog!
Comforting.
Particularly for travelers such as my son, 25, 6', 220, black.
"The 92-point checklist listed in the “Spot Referral Report” is divided into various categories with a point score for each. Those categories include a preliminary “observation and behavior analysis,” and then those passengers pulled over for additional inspection are scored based on two more categories: whether they have “unusual items,” like almanacs and “numerous prepaid calling cards or cell phones,” and a final category for “signs of deception,” which include “covers mouth with hand when speaking”...and 'fast eye blink rate.'"
And Camo?
Last time my son flew from Dulles he and four marines and a coast guard man were pulled from line. Their shared characteristics aside from gender and race was that they carried themselves with self assurance and they wore camo. (One of my son's motorcycle jackets has a camo design.)
Passengers are scored:
"Points can...be deducted from someone’s score based on observations...that make him or her less likely, in TSA’s eyes, to be a terrorist. For example, 'apparent' married couples, if both people are over 55, have two points deducted off their score. Women over the age of 55 have one pointed deducted; for men, the point deduction doesn’t come until they reach 65. 'The TSA has insisted on keeping documents about SPOT secret, but the agency can’t hide the fact that there’s no evidence the program works,' said Hugh Handeyside, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project."
The report concludes, largely on the strength of the fact there's virtually no evidence the program's tended toward our increased safety,
“The SPOT sheet was designed in such a way that virtually every passenger will exhibit multiple ‘behaviors’ that can be assigned a SPOT sheet value,” a former manager said. It is...a license to harass.” A[nother] former Behavior Detection Officer manager...told The Intercept that the program suffers from lack of science and simple inconsistency, with every airport training its officers differently. 'The SPOT program is bullshit,' the manager said.'”
My son, as most do, acknowledges calmly that he lives in a bullsthit-rife world. He has keen senses of irony and self-preservation. But, he asks, need we pay this much for it in loss of money, time, good sense?
Bullshit, particularly institutional bullshit, has a purpose, even if it's only to convince reasonably trainable functionaries and administrators, agency directors, and politicians that they're useful. And if it's layered and costly enough, it can cover motives more toxic than that.