TSA Behavioral Detection Program Gets New Test At Boston Logan International Airport

Boston Logan International Airport TSA officials will soon be taken part in new screening process with passengers, having “casual conversations” with airport visitors as they enter security checkpoints.

The new initiative is taking place in Terminal A, running for 60 days to test the efficacy of the program which required officials to be specially trained for their position.

By having conversations TSA officials will try to detect certain behavior and facial expressions of tension, fear or deception.

According to officials only a small percentage of passengers will be required to participate in the detection program and the TSA mentioned that 3,000 behavior detection officers are already deployed at airports around the United States, although they only observe and don’t engage airport users.

Boston Logan International was chosen because the behavioral analysis program began there in 2003

Interestingly the program has been modeled off the type of techniques used in Israel, although they use aggressive questioning of passengers compared to the “casual conversations” being employed at Logan International.

[CNN]