Airport tests method of watching how passengers act

BOSTON - When someone at an airport is sweating, is it because he's running late or trying to hide something? Could hand signals between people in a terminal be part of an inside joke or a terror plot?

A pilot program using "behavior pattern recognition" is under way at Boston's Logan International Airport, where two of the planes used by the Sept. 11 hijackers took off. Air marshals, passenger screeners and state police stationed there have undergone special training in things to look for that could indicate a terrorist plot.

Israeli officials have employed a version of the technique for years to protect air travelers against terrorists.

At Logan, uniformed and undercover security officials watch people as they move through terminals.

They look for odd or suspicious behavior: heavy clothes on a hot day, loiterers without luggage, anyone observing security methods.

"They're looking for something outside the normal range of behavior," said Jack Shea, special agent in charge of the federal air marshals in Boston. "What I like about it: It's very basic, it's common sense, it's effective, it works."

Massachusetts State Police Maj. Tom Robbins, who oversees the troopers at Logan, said the program has been a success.

"We haven't caught Osama bin Laden, but we've caught people who are exhibiting the behaviors they're looking for," he said. Mostly, they catch people with outstanding warrants, he said.

The technique is not new to the government - Customs agents have used the technique to look for smugglers at border crossings. But some civil libertarians are wary, concerned the program could lead to unlawful searches and seizures and persecution of law-abiding passengers.

Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and privacy program, questions whether the program even works. "I haven't seen any studies on it," he said.

He's particularly concerned behavior pattern recognition might become a pretext for racial profiling.

"Not every police or security officer who's going to be heading up a local operation is going to be sensitive to the racial implications of the project, especially as you roll it out nationwide," Steinhardt said.

The head of the ACLU's racial profiling project aroused suspicions while traveling through Logan in October. He was questioned and lodged a complaint afterward.

Steinhardt said "someone thought he was suspicious because he's a tall black man."

Robbins said the incident - the airport's only complaint about racial profiling related to behavior recognition - was being reviewed.

Some privacy advocates prefer behavior pattern recognition to the government's plan to conduct computerized background checks on all air travelers to try to identify potential terrorists and other dangerous people.

"Targeted interviewing is certainly preferable," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a leading critic of the background checks.

Here's how behavior pattern recognition works at Logan International Airport:

- Uniformed and undercover security officials on foot watch people as they move through terminals. They look for odd or suspicious behavior.

- If they see it, law enforcement officials then start a pleasant conversation: Where are you going? Why? The officer will try to identify deceit through subtle cues in suspects' body language, what they say and how they say it.

- At checkpoints, screening supervisors have a score sheet with a list of behaviors on it. If enough suspicious activities are noted to reach a certain score, they'll notify troopers, who will question the passenger.

- Air marshals waiting for planes will call troopers on their cell phones if they see something suspicious.

Source: Associated Press

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