Airport security uses talk as tactic
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

The Transportation Security Administration plans to train screeners at 40 major airports next year to pick out possible terrorists by engaging travelers in a casual conversation to detect whether a person appears nervous or evasive and needs extra scrutiny.

The new security technique, already in use at some airports, adds a psychological dimension to screening by trying to find high-risk passengers based on how they act at checkpoints or boarding gates. (Related story: Body language can blow suspects' cover)
Passengers who raise suspicions will undergo extra physical screening and could face police questioning.

Airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Detroit and Miami recently began using the technique.
Some airport and transit police already look for people acting oddly — such as wearing a heavy coat in the summer or appearing to be doing surveillance — and question them about travel plans.

"I don't want (officers) just sitting there waiting for a call to come in. I want them observing people, observing their behavior and engaging them in conversation. They're looking for people whose activities don't look right," says Alvy Dodson, public safety director at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Last year, 70% of DFW's 167 airport police were trained in the program.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the technique leads to racial profiling and has sued to stop a behavior-screening program run by the Massachusetts State Police at Boston's Logan International Airport. That program, the first at a U.S. airport when it began in 2002, was challenged last year after a black ACLU official said he was questioned and threatened with arrest if he didn't show identification.

"If you're going to allow police to make searches, question people and even make arrests based on criteria rather than actual evidence of criminality, you're going to have racial profiling," says Barry Steinhardt, a privacy law specialist at the ACLU.

Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Peter DiDomenica calls the program "an antidote to racial profiling" that focuses on "objective behavioral characteristics." He says the program has curbed racial profiling "because we've educated people."

Behavior detection is routine in security-conscious countries such as Israel, where air travelers routinely face aggressive questioning.
U.S. Customs officers have long asked arriving travelers questions, often in random order. If a person gives "stumbling answers," that could indicate the person has fraudulent travel documents or plans to overstay a visa, says Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Kelly Klundt.

The TSA also began using behavior detection at Logan in 2003 and last year at airports in Warwick, R.I., and Portland, Maine. Mass transit systems in New York City and Washington adopted the technique after train bombings in Madrid and London.

Concerns about racial profiling have meant "there's been a lot of reluctance in TSA to expand this," says George Naccara, TSA security director at Logan.
Naccara says he persuaded TSA chief Kip Hawley to try behavior detection at numerous high-risk airports. "It's another effective layer of security which is relatively cheap," Naccara says.

"Bathroom Security Requires Tactics With Patrols, Cameras"
Corporate Security (12/15/2005) P. 7

Corporate security departments should be sure to include bathrooms in their security plans and operations. Bathrooms are easy to overlook, but problems that can occur there include muggings, sexual assaults, and medical emergencies. The first step toward bathroom security begins with having security officers check bathrooms on a regular basis. For example, the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino/Las Vegas conducts a security sweep of its bathrooms every hour of the day, every day of the week. Arthur Steele, vice president of security operations for the hotel, notes that bathrooms pose a risk of potential liability, so he has his security guards make an entry of each hourly visit in their patrol reports, and Steele keeps those reports on file for 30 days. Winning gamblers have sometimes been followed into bathrooms and been robbed, and people have had heart attacks and not been discovered for hours, Steele says. Steele also instructs his guards to look out for leaking water or liquid soap on the floor. Positioning a security camera outside the bathroom entrance--at an unobtrusive angle--can serve as a deterrent to crime and help record any criminal activity.

"Bush Details Plan for More Effective Information Sharing"
National Journal's Technology Daily (12/19/05) ; Stirland, Sarah Lai

President Bush announced plans to improve the way terrorism-related data between federal, state, and local governments is shared, as well as the private sector. Lawmakers, along with government department and agency heads, received guidelines and requirements from Bush that detailed the role and scope of authority of department chiefs. The Bush administration seeks to provide a better understanding of how government officials should handle classified information as they share data in an effort to build what they call the "information-sharing environment." "The ISE is intended to enable the federal government and our state, local, tribal and private-sector partners to share appropriate information relating to terrorists, their threats, plans, networks, supporters, and capabilities while, at the same time, respecting the information privacy and other legal rights of all Americans," Bush said in a letter to Congress. "Creating the ISE is a difficult and complex task that will require a sustained effort and strong partnership with the Congress." James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the previous lack of clarity on how to handle sharing sensitive terrorism-related data among federal and state officials was a major obstacle for effectively preventing terrorist attacks, as reported by the Sept. 11, 2001 commission.
(go to web site www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1205/121905tdpm1.htm)

SK Sharma

The views and facts stated above are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not reflect the views of this Association in any manner.