老澳门开奖结果 Sues TSA for Records on Discredited 鈥楤ehavior Detection鈥 Program

TSA Refusing to Release Documents 老澳门开奖结果 SPOT Program鈥檚 Effectiveness, Racial Profiling Impact

March 19, 2015 9:45 am

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NEW YORK 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 and the NYCLU took the Transportation Security Administration to court today in an effort to uncover documents about a controversial passenger screening program used at airports nationwide.

The program is called Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT. TSA 鈥渂ehavior detection officers鈥 watch passengers in airport screening areas for behaviors that the TSA associates with stress, fear, or deception 鈥 sometimes also engaging travelers in casual conversation. The officers then flag certain people for additional inspection and questioning.

Government investigators and outside experts have criticized SPOT as ineffective, unscientific, and wasteful. The program has cost over $1 billion since 2007 and has been blamed by passengers and TSA officers themselves for numerous cases of racial profiling.

Today鈥檚 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit is seeking records related to any scientific basis for the program, its effectiveness, and how much minorities are disproportionately singled out.

鈥淲hat we know about SPOT suggests it wastes taxpayer money, leads to racial profiling, and should be scrapped,鈥 said Hugh Handeyside, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 National Security Project. 鈥淭he TSA has insisted on keeping documents about SPOT secret, but the agency can鈥檛 hide the fact that there鈥檚 no evidence the program works. The discriminatory racial profiling that SPOT has apparently led to only reinforces that the public needs to know more about how this program is used and with what consequences for Americans鈥 rights.鈥

Both Congress鈥 and an found that there is no evidence that people can identify deception by observing the behavior of others. The GAO report also found that the 鈥渂ehavioral indicators鈥 officers are supposed to be looking for are subjective, and that referrals for additional screening varied significantly at different airports. A report by the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 could not find any evidence that the program worked.

The TSA鈥檚 use of these techniques has resulted in numerous allegations of racial and religious profiling. TSA officers in Boston have witnessing other officers subjecting people of Middle Eastern descent or appearance, African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities to additional questioning and screening solely on the basis of their race. Similar problems have been reported at and airports.

A video released today by the 老澳门开奖结果 about the SPOT program is at:

The FOIA request and today鈥檚 complaint are at:
/national-security/aclu-v-tsa

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