TSA introduces new airport screening

Bryon Okada
McClatchy Newspapers
Published Sunday, March 16, 2008

DALLAS/FORT WORTH AIRPORT -- Dallas/Fort Worth Airport will test a security program that will give screeners more latitude to use their instincts and experience to identify terrorists, and get away from the by-the-numbers mentality used to create the Transportation Security Administration.

Although some TSA personnel will continue rote object-hunting at airport checkpoints, other D/FW screeners will concentrate on looking for passengers who act out of the ordinary and all screeners will need to take a more analytical approach, said Kip Hawley, administrator of the TSA.

The program should be in place by year's end.

"We're trying to get the culture change away from just 'stand there,"' Hawley told about 120 TSA screeners and staff at D/FW this week. "That's not going to stop al-Qaida."

Experience working at checkpoints has made airport screeners uniquely qualified to do this job, Hawley said.

"We have seen more images, more people, more shoes than anybody," he told the screeners. "You know what normal looks like."

Under the test program, checkpoint screening will be more a process for vetting passengers' reactions and intent, not just a search for banned items.

But, Hawley said, because the program relies on individual decision-making by the screeners, controversy will likely follow.

"Results will be all over the place," he said.

The agency has been moving incrementally in this direction since 2005. The shift was stepped up in 2006 with the testing of "behavior detection officers," small groups of workers hired specifically to monitor passenger behavior at some airports.

The officers, some of whom work incognito, use simple conversational questions to gauge passenger reactions. They also look for involuntary "microfacial" expressions or body movements. Avoiding eye contact, avoiding police, wearing a thick jacket in 100-degree weather lots of behaviors or combinations of behaviors can be considered suspicious.

In the test program at D/FW, screeners will be trained to make similar observations.

The behavior-analysis strategy goes in tandem with overall efforts to "calm" the checkpoints, which include developing "family" and/or "expert" lanes and pre-screening to reduce bottlenecks.

"That is the piece we're looking at next," Hawley said. "How can we do this process better less menial labor, if you will, on the inside of the checkpoint. Get rid of that work. ... And then use the dollars we use to pay for those people to distribute among the officers who've been around, who have this learning that they've built in."

Automated systems like D/FW's in-line baggage system, which requires less manpower to operate than manual systems, has also created a labor pool for the program.

Reaction is mixed to the TSA's "culture shift."

"We're in favor of anything that can move things along and prevent the bottlenecks," said David Stempler, president of the Maryland-based Air Travelers Association. "It's helpful to try to divide the passengers into those that are suspicious and need more questioning from those that don't and you can just process those passengers."

Behavior-analysis training is possible for screeners at an already sophisticated airport such as D/FW, Stempler said.

However, Bruce Schneier, a security technologist expert and author of "Applied Cryptography" and "Beyond Fear," isn't so sure.

"In general, it's a good idea, but it's got to be done well," Schneier said. "Done poorly, it's just racial profiling."

That comes down to training, which Schneier says he isn't privy to. "It's frustrating because I'm curious too. I don't know if they're doing it right, so the answer is we don't know. The devil's in the details."

Hawley would not disclose details to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on how the screeners will be trained other than to say that special training is necessary.

If implemented nationally, the TSA's cultural change away from the old law enforcement model will be the second attempt at a change since the agency was created after Sept. 11.

Congress created the TSA in November 2001 to replace the security system that had been overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency began with rigid practices and easy-to-understand goals, such as keeping knives off airplanes.

Initially, the agency was made up largely of military and law enforcement officials. With the resignation of the TSA's first chief, John Magaw, six months after confirmation, the agency hired more officials from the aviation sector and tried to steer toward a more customer-friendly approach.

Still, standard operating procedures based on the early days have continued to be rigidly followed even though the aviation security landscape has evolved drastically.

"We've burned in the SOP and built the whole construct around 'if you do it exactly the way it is in the SOP you get to keep your job, if you don't do exactly what's in the SOP you get to lose your job. We don't want you freelancing,"' Hawley said. "Probably not the best management practice."

At the same time, "You look at the intel and you see these guys are smart, as smart as we are. They know what our technology is, they know what our SOP is. They will craft their attacks so they can get through. They know exactly what they can do and they know they can do it," he said.

During Hawley's talk, some D/FW screeners appeared to be energized at the thought of moving away from monotonous object-hunting and button-pushing. And to a few, it seemed as though the purpose of the screener job is only now starting to come into focus.