REUTERS/Joe Skipper
The TSA put the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program into place in fiscal year 2007, and has since spent about $900 million on it.
The idea is to train TSA officers to detect suspicious
Behavior detection officers (BDO) look for "clusters of behaviors indicative of stress, fear, or deception" and can refer them for additional screening, accompanied by "casual conversation...while continuing to look for behavioral clues." Depending on the outcome, the officer can call in a law enforcement officer, or allow the passenger to head to the gate.
But the GAO report says there's no evidence the program works or is worth nearly $1 billion:
While TSA has several efforts under way to assess the behavioral indicators and expand its collection of data to develop performance metrics for its behavioral detection activities, these efforts are not expected to be completed for several years, and TSA has indicated that additional resources are needed to complete them.
Consequently, after 10 years of implementing and testing the SPOT program, TSA cannot demonstrate that the agency's behavior detection activities can reliably and effectively identify high-risk passengers who may pose a threat to the U.S. aviation system.
Based on those findings, GAO recommends "that the Secretary of Homeland Security direct the TSA Administrator to limit future funding support" until "TSA can provide scientifically validated evidence that demonstrates that behavioral indicators can be used to identify passengers who may pose a threat to aviation security."
In a statement, a TSA spokesperson said "behavior detection is vital" to the TSA's work, and is a "common sense approach used by law enforcement and security personnel across the country and the world."
Here's GAO's breakdown of how SPOT works:
GAO