The TSA's Secret Behavior Checklist to Spot Terrorists



From a confidential Transportation Security Administration document that was leaked to The Intercept by, according to them, "a source concerned about the quality of the program," comes this checklist of behaviors said by the TSA to be indicative of possible terrorist activity. The checklist is a guide for TSA agents to score suspects at the airport. It is part of a controversial protocol called SPOT, an acronym that stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques. Each behavior on the checklist that is identified in a suspect scores them "points." 

Part of the list of behaviors reads as follows:

  • Excessive Throat Clearing
  • Exaggerated Yawning

After flying home from my last vacation still suffering from the remnants of a virus, its safe to say I could have been classified as dangerous based on those two behaviors alone.

Read more on this story and see copies of the TSA documents in question, which include the other behaviors that mark airline passengers as suspicious, at The Intercept


Comments (8)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

... And here I am, a middle-aged male of Middle-Eastern descent. Used to pulled out on most flights and somehow now qualify for the "walk on through" line. My only suggestion is to smile and be cooperative. Seems to have worked for me.
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Yeah, I thought of that at the time, and I get that it's a good hiding place. But I think if they're going to make it a policy to lift wheelchair bound people out of their chairs and forbid their loved ones to be near them when it happens, they need to have someone on their staff trained to do so in a gentle, compassionate manner that doesn't risk hurting them. They also need to treat the disabled person in a polite way, and not act like they are an inconvenience purposely holding up their line.
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Unfortunately, 'old person in wheelchair' actually -is- a red flag for a possible drug mule simply because the smugglers are hoping people will feel bad for the elder and not check them or their chair. See also 'pregnant woman' and 'small child'. Also, you can get a lot more stuff packed into a chair.
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When they do those kind of videos, they could at least reveal what % of those interviewed had correct vs. incorrect answers. Editing obviously can skew our opinion of those folks being asked.
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As said above, knowing the percentages would help, since at some point you have a small percentage that will say anything to be on TV or to make a joke.

And the only time I've bumped into people do something similar, both on a camera and for a written survey, they seemed to not have the greatest scruples/work ethic/understanding of what they were doing. They wanted to asked if I knew who my senator and representative was, or who was the Lt. governor. The problem was both times I was on a trip out of the state I live in, but neither surveyor seemed to care. When I told them who was "my" representative, they marked it as wrong one the written survey (the video one I didn't bother sticking around for). I also saw them pestering foreign tourists to answer their questions too.

That said, a lot of people I've met from countries other than the US asked why people and education in the US is so obsessed with history, and talked of how wars and history before the 20th century was rarely covered in their schools, as civics and contemporary issues were more valued. This varies a lot from country to country, but for some they don't see videos like this as a big deal (at least without being told that some of this should have been in just about every student's curriculum at some point).
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Don't worry, they all know who Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are (I had to check spelling on both of those).. so they've got all the really important things in life covered.

Besides, they don't need to know any "common man" items/issues, they're *all* going to be wildly rich and famous and not have to deal with "normal" life when they grow up.
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