American Empire: The Thought Police

A front page story in the June 13^th issue of the Buffalo News had to have raised some eyebrows. The story entitled "Screening at Airport Sizing Up Behavior" revealed that as of mid-May, ten behavioral detection officers have been working at the airport. This thought police squad's job is to roam around the airport looking for what the N.Y. Times says calls 'evil intent'. This evil intent becomes apparent in the individuals facial expressions, nervous tics, odd gestures, etc. If a passenger exhibits what the thought police squad believes is terrorist like tendencies, they engage the- would- be perpetrator in conversation gambits like "where are you going this afternoon?" If they don't like the answer they can have him subjected to an intensive search, or turned over to the local authorities for further questioning.

The brain trust behind this program is, of course, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This is just one of the many departments under the command and control of Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. A quick click to the TSA webpage reveals that "Behavioral Detection Officers execute the TSA's Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (STOP). By the end of fiscal year 2008, the TSA anticipates having more than 500 of these officers working in major airports from coast to coast.

These officers will be subjected to three grueling weeks of class room training and then two weeks in the field with their more experienced brothers. They will be trained 'to recognize concealed emotion, such as fear or anxiety...so-called micro-facial expressions appear on a person's face for 1/25^th of a second."

How all of this is accomplished is anyone's guess. How much is will cost the tax-payer is again up for scrutiny.

This program came into being just after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. It began in Boston at Logan International airport, where airport security thought that techniques used to catch drug mules could be turned lose on terrorists. In December 2005, the TSA began to use the program at about a dozen airports, including Dulles, National, Buffalo and Logan.