BDOs Gauge Risk Potential In Passenger Facial Expressions

The eyes of the Transportation Safety Administration are upon you... in the airport, anyway. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month Behavior Detection Officers can be considered security upgrades.

He described the officers as "a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint," according to McClatchey Newspapers.

The program began as a pilot program in 2006 and has proven "very successful" in identifying suspicious airline passengers, according to TSA public affairs specialist Amy Kudwa. Trained officers have identified illegal immigrants, drug carriers as well as terrorism suspects so far.

Already positioned in more than a dozen US airports, Kudwa said the agency plans to have 500 fully trained BDOs working by the end of next year.

BDOs work in teams of two with one officer openly scrutinizing passengers while the other seemingly performs another task. When a passenger exhibits suspicious behavior, the officers increase their scrutiny by performing seemingly innocent actions such as polite conversation or assistance with belongings. If the suspicious behavior continues, the passenger is then referred to law enforcement for additional questioning and investigation.

The program is based on a similar program long used in Israel, according to Paul Ekman, program advisor and former professor at the University of California at San Francisco. But, it's a watered-down version, he said. US officers receive only 16 hours of training... because the US doesn't want to be as intrusive as the Israeli program is said to be.

BDOs are trained to watch for specific facial expressions and body language for signs a passenger is up to no good. Ekman, a pioneer in the new screening system, says people reveal their emotions in flashes of "micro expressions" with fear and disgust as key emotions because they are connected to deception.

The undersecretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, Jay M. Cohen, likes the program so much he said he wants to automate passenger screening and use computers to analyze body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate in conjunction with interpreting body language.

DHS is now actively seeking input from scientists on how to develop such technology. The proposal submission deadline is August 31.

FMI: www.tsa.gov