Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact
  • Home /
  • News /
  • 2015 /
  • April /
  • USA: Exclusive: TSA Behavior Detection Program Targeting Undocumented Immigrants, Not Terrorists

USA: Exclusive: TSA Behavior Detection Program Targeting Undocumented Immigrants, Not Terrorists

08 April 2015

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

"A controversial Transportation Security Administration program that uses behavior indicators to identify potential terrorists is instead primarily targeting undocumented immigrants, according to a document obtained by The Intercept and interviews with current and former government officials.

The $900 million program, Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, employs behavior detection officers trained to identify passengers who exhibit behaviors that TSA believes could be linked to would-be terrorists. But in one five-week period at a major international airport in the United States in 2007, the year the program started, only about 4 percent of the passengers who were referred to secondary screening or law enforcement by behavior detection officers were arrested, and nearly 90 percent of those arrests were for being in the country illegally, according to a TSA document obtained by The Intercept.

Nothing in the SPOT records suggests that any of those arrested were associated with terrorist activity."

See the article: Exclusive: TSA Behavior Detection Program Targeting Undocumented Immigrants, Not Terrorists (The Intercept, link)

See: Document (pdf) and: Examples of SPOT targets (png)

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

UK: Met adopts Kafkaesque position on secret surveillance database - The Metropolitan Police has dreamt up a new excuse for blocking domestic extremist subject access requests

Next article 

GENOA 2001: ECHR Press release: Police violence: Italian criminal law inadequate and not an effective deterrent

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy