Posted on 08/03/2011 2:49:13 PM PDT by EBH
Passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport will notice the security screeners are chattier than usual, but it’s not an improved customer service policy.
On Tuesday the Transportation Security Administration began a test-run at Logan of its SPOT program, which stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques...
“...The vast majority of passengers will experience a casual greeting conversation with the BDO as they go through identity verification,” a TSA spokesperson said. “A small portion of passengers may get selected for an extended, but still limited conversation.”
Since its creation in 2007, TSA’s SPOT program has grown almost fifteen-fold. As of May 2010, about 3,000 BDOs were deployed at 161 airports nationwide at an annual cost of more than $200 million.
So far, after three years of operation and almost $1 billion spent, SPOT has never been scientifically proven effective and has never caught one actual terrorist...
...According to information provided by TSA to Nature magazine, BDOs referred more than 232,000 people for secondary screening during the SPOT program’s first phase, from January 2006 through to November 2009. Secondary screening involves closer inspection of bags and testing for explosives.
The vast majority of those subjected to extra inspection continued with no further delays. But 1,710 were arrested, which the TSA points to as evidence of the program’s effectiveness.
In other words, less than 1 percent of referrals lead to an arrest. And most arrests were for criminal activity, such as outstanding warrants or illegal citizenship status. One man was arrested in 2008 after BDOs stopped him at Orlando International Airport while he was carrying explosive components. In 2007 TSA stopped another man who was carrying a loaded handgun at Baltimore-Washington International.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Male TSA to female passenger: “Do you play around?”
Male TSA to male passenger: “Do you play around?”
(TSA catches a lot of terrorists with this new program.)
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I too experienced this at Orange County - it was a cluster you-know-what.
I was the 10th person in line in the “Premier” line. 20 minutes later, I finally made it to the front of the line. By that time there were about 75 people in line behind me.
Everyone was POed, checking watches, etc. The delays certainly cost some people to miss their flights.
Everyone in line was asked questions and spent 2-3 minutes at the podium with the TSAhole asking inane questions about your street address, the city you were flying to, your flight number etc. etc.
AFGE, the TSA union will file a grievance.
TSA screeners have a bargaining unit right to feel up people whenever they want.
Napolitano said that Israeli-style security won’t work in U.S. back in January 2011.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/04/napolitano-israeli-style-security-wont-work/
In another interview she said, “You have not given me a technique for tactic or behavior. ... Napolitano: No “ Logic” In Profiling Muslim Men Under The Age Of 35 ...”
But she defends the frisking of 6yr olds as “professional and according to protocol.”
Ummm... the entire TSA has never caught ONE SINGLE SOLITARY TERRORIST for all their jackbooted thuggery.
I’ve always thought TSA should use the Vegas model. Friendly front line screeners who smile and visit with the people. Pit boss watching the screeners and the people. And the eye in the sky watching all.
Yeah, but that was on a different day. You can’t expect the same answer on different days, can you?
I recently and reluctantly concluded we probably can’t impliment an Isreali-style security program because almost all the TSA people I run into are dumb as a box of rocks. Maybe they can find some smart people for a beta program like this, but find enough for full implimentation? I have my doubts.
The customs folks in England use a similar system. If you have nothing to declare, you go through a line where they just size-up your behavior. Coming back from Ireland one time, they actually asked me where I’d been. I said, “Waterford”, they said, “Oh, an American, welcome to England”. They’re really good, though, at spotting those with a guilty conscience.
I wouldn’t give them my street address. They might break in to your home while you’re away. I don’t trust the TSA.
My driver’s license has a P.O. Box address on it.
Which, of course, really stands for "BenD Over."
A pathological liar,politician or good actor should be able to breeze right thru, think Bill Clinton shaking his finger at the camera.
It's OK now, though, because it costs a lot more taxpayer dollars than ordinary profiling.
“It’s been a long time since an El-Al airliner was hijacked or bombed”
Even better, no El-Al airliner has ever been hijacked or bombed.
Compare the number of El-Al flights to those of all USA based airlines. In other words, the Israelis are good but the bad guys have an order of magnitude (or two) fewer chances when compared to the USA.
Thank you...the system will work if they know how to use it.
They do a good job of this at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. For some reason I don’t think it would work very well in U.S. Maybe for international flights possibly.
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