Defenders of TSA Behavior Detection: Israel, Australia Do It

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In the wake of a report calling the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) behavior detection program unscientific, defenders of the program pointed to similar efforts in other countries as confirmation of its value.

“It is worth noting that a number of other governments…have developed and deployed behavior detection screening protocols. I have personally toured the facilities and received briefings on the use of behavior detection ine Australia and Israel,” said Daniel Gerstein, the acting head of the Homeland Security Department’s Science and Technology Directorate. S&T has supported TSA’s behavior detection program, called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques.

According to Fierce Homeland Security Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland also use behavior detection for airport screening, Gerstein said during a Nov. 14 hearing held by a House Homeland Security subcommittee. As for Israel’s behavior detection program, “there’s as many dissimilarities as similarities in their system” in comparison to TSA’s. Israeli personnel are allowed to racially profile, for example.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Israel’s air travel system is also much smaller in scale, with only one major international airport and far fewer passengers overall than in the United States. That allows airport security to interview every passenger. If TSA tried to replicate that, “the entire system would come screeching to a halt”.

Others criticized the TSA for deploying the SPOT program at the same time that it was evaluating its effectiveness. That evaluation is still ongoing today, even as the program has cost $900 million since it began in fiscal 2007.