US Monitors Travelers Face Expressions

Waverly Cousin (C) examines passengers’ faces at Dulles International Airport as part of the behavior-based screening program. (Courtesy New York Times)

"The observation of human behavior is probably the hardest thing to defeat," said Waverly Cousin, a former police officer and checkpoint screener who is now the supervisor of the behavior detection unit at Dulles International Airport.

"You just don't know what I am going to see."

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched the new Screening Passenger by Observation Technique to pick up people with "evil intent".

Behavior detection officers monitor the passengers' facial expressions, body and eye movements, changes in vocal pitch and other indicators of stress or disorientation.

If they have some suspicions, they single out people for further security checks.

"There are infinite ways to find things to use as a weapon and infinite ways to hide them," said TSA director Kip Hawley.

"But if you can identify the individual, it is by far the better way to find the threat."

The program, currently operational in only a dozen airports across the US, was crafted after the police technique used in identifying drug couriers.

Defects

The program, however, has been seen ineffective in picking up suspects.

"It may be the best that can be done now, but it is not nearly good enough," said Paul Ekman, a retired psychology professor from the University of California, San Francisco.

Ekman, who specializes in detecting lies and deceit, has helped the TSA set up its program.

He said that the system makes little success at airports as it puts too little emphasis on the follow-up interview and relies on a behavior-scoring system.

Ekman said that the system was based on facial reactions that occurred in sit-down interview, not while people standing in line at the airport.

"We have no basis other than the seat of our pants to know how many points should be given to any one thing."

Rafi Ron, the former director of security at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport who helped train the officers at Logan Airport, said the program was flawed.

He said too few of the passengers pulled aside were more formally questioned as in the Israeli system.

He said the travelers were always asked by local police officers who might not have had the necessary behavioral analysis skills.

Ron cited the case of Richard Reid, known as the shoe bomber, who aroused suspicion when he arrived at Charles de Gaulle International Airport outside Paris, but was ultimately allowed to board after the police had questioned him.

"If you don't do the interviews properly, you are missing what is probably the most important and powerful part of the procedure."

Since the program has gone into effect, several hundred people have been referred for intense screening.

Nearly 50 people have been turned over to the police for follow-up questioning, said John F. Lenihan, the transportation agency's security director at Dulles.

Dozens of people have also faced charges or other law enforcement over immigration matters, outstanding warrants or forged documents.

Discriminatory

The TSA system has also drawn fire.

"There is a significant prospect this security method is going to be applied in a discriminatory manner," said John Reinstein of the American Civil Liberties Union's Campaign Against Racial Profiling.

"It introduces into the screening system a number of highly subjective elements left to the discretion of the individual officer."

Since the program has been applied, it produced only one lawsuit.

King Downing, the national coordinator of ACLU's Campaign Against Racial Profiling, was picked out by the state police at Logan Airport.

Black Downing had just left a flight when he stopped to make a phone call. He noticed that a police officer was listening in.

As soon as he ended his call, Downing was stopped by the officer, asking for his identification.

The officer asked him again for his identification as he approached a taxi and then told him he would be "going downtown" unless he provided it.

Downing was let go after he showed his identification, but the encounter led to the lawsuit.