Eric Holder Jihad
2012-08-12 18:32:48 UTC
BOSTON -- More than 30 federal officers in an airport program
intended to spot telltale mannerisms of potential terrorists say
the operation has become a magnet for racial profiling,
targeting not only Middle Easterners but also blacks, Hispanics
and other minorities.
In interviews and internal complaints, officers from the
Transportation Security Administration's "behavior detection"
program at Logan International Airport in Boston asserted that
passengers who fit certain profiles -- Hispanics traveling to
Miami, for instance, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward --
are much more likely to be stopped, searched and questioned for
"suspicious" behavior.
"They just pull aside anyone who they don't like the way they
look -- if they are black and have expensive clothes or jewelry,
or if they are Hispanic," said one white officer, who along with
four others, spoke with The New York Times on the condition of
anonymity.
The TSA said on Friday that it had opened an investigation into
the claims.
While the Obama administration has attacked the use of racial
and ethnic profiling in Arizona and elsewhere, the claims by the
Boston officers now put the agency and the administration in the
awkward position of defending themselves against charges of
profiling in a program billed as a model for airports nationwide.
At a meeting last month with TSA officials, officers at Logan
provided written complaints about profiling from 32 officers,
some of whom wrote anonymously. Officers said managers' demands
for high numbers of stops, searches and criminal referrals had
led co-workers to target minorities in the belief that those
stops were more likely to yield drugs, outstanding arrest
warrants or immigration problems.
The practice has become so prevalent, some officers said, that
Massachusetts State Police officials have asked why minority
members appear to make up an overwhelming number of the cases
that the airport refers to them.
"The behavior detection program is no longer a behavior-based
program, but it is a racial profiling program," one officer
wrote in an anonymous complaint obtained by The Times.
A TSA spokesman said agency inspectors recently learned of the
racial profiling claims in Boston. "If any of these claims prove
accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure
there are consequences to such activity," the statement said.
The agency emphasized that the behavior detection program "in no
way encourages or tolerates profiling" and bans singling out
passengers based on nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.
It is unusual for transportation agency employees to come
forward with this kind of claim against co-workers, and the
large number of employees bringing complaints in Boston could
prove particularly damaging for an agency already buffeted with
criticism over pat-downs, X-ray scans and other security
measures.
Reports of profiling emerged last year at the behavior programs
at the Newark, N.J., and Hawaii airports, but in much smaller
numbers than those described in Boston.
The complaints from the Logan officers carry nationwide
implications because Boston is the testing ground for an
expanded use of behavioral detection methods nationwide.
While 161 airports already use behavioral officers to identify
possible terrorist activity -- a controversial tactic -- the
agency is considering expanding the use of what it says are more
advanced tactics nationwide, with Boston's program as a model.
The program in place in Boston uses specially trained behavioral
"assessors" not only to scan the lines of passengers for unusual
activity, but also to speak individually with each passenger and
gauge their reactions while asking about their trip or for other
information.
The assessors look for inconsistencies in the answers and other
signs of unusual behavior, like avoiding eye contact, sweating
or fidgeting, officials said. A passenger considered to be
acting suspiciously can be pulled from the line and subjected to
more intensive questioning.
That is what happened last month at Logan airport to Kenneth
Boatner, 68, a psychologist and educational consultant in Boston
who was traveling to Atlanta for a business trip.
In a formal complaint he filed with the agency afterward, he
said he was pulled out of line and detained for 29 minutes, as
agents thumbed through his checkbook and examined his clients'
clinical notes, his cellphone and other belongings.
The officers gave no explanation, but Mr. Boatner, who is black,
said he suspected the reason he was stopped was his race and
appearance. He was wearing sweat pants, a white T-shirt, and
high-top sneakers.
He said he felt humiliated. "I had never been subjected to
anything like that," he said in an interview.
Officers in Boston acknowledged that they had no firm data on
how frequently minority members were stopped. But based on their
own observations, several officers estimated that they accounted
for as many as 80 percent passengers searched during certain
shifts.
The transportation agency said it did not collect information on
the race or ethnicity of travelers and could not provide such a
breakdown of passengers stopped through the behavior program.
But the agency defended the program's overall value as an
effective way of identifying potential terrorists.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/racial-profiling-
said-to-be-rife-at-bostons-logan-airport-648707/
intended to spot telltale mannerisms of potential terrorists say
the operation has become a magnet for racial profiling,
targeting not only Middle Easterners but also blacks, Hispanics
and other minorities.
In interviews and internal complaints, officers from the
Transportation Security Administration's "behavior detection"
program at Logan International Airport in Boston asserted that
passengers who fit certain profiles -- Hispanics traveling to
Miami, for instance, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward --
are much more likely to be stopped, searched and questioned for
"suspicious" behavior.
"They just pull aside anyone who they don't like the way they
look -- if they are black and have expensive clothes or jewelry,
or if they are Hispanic," said one white officer, who along with
four others, spoke with The New York Times on the condition of
anonymity.
The TSA said on Friday that it had opened an investigation into
the claims.
While the Obama administration has attacked the use of racial
and ethnic profiling in Arizona and elsewhere, the claims by the
Boston officers now put the agency and the administration in the
awkward position of defending themselves against charges of
profiling in a program billed as a model for airports nationwide.
At a meeting last month with TSA officials, officers at Logan
provided written complaints about profiling from 32 officers,
some of whom wrote anonymously. Officers said managers' demands
for high numbers of stops, searches and criminal referrals had
led co-workers to target minorities in the belief that those
stops were more likely to yield drugs, outstanding arrest
warrants or immigration problems.
The practice has become so prevalent, some officers said, that
Massachusetts State Police officials have asked why minority
members appear to make up an overwhelming number of the cases
that the airport refers to them.
"The behavior detection program is no longer a behavior-based
program, but it is a racial profiling program," one officer
wrote in an anonymous complaint obtained by The Times.
A TSA spokesman said agency inspectors recently learned of the
racial profiling claims in Boston. "If any of these claims prove
accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure
there are consequences to such activity," the statement said.
The agency emphasized that the behavior detection program "in no
way encourages or tolerates profiling" and bans singling out
passengers based on nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.
It is unusual for transportation agency employees to come
forward with this kind of claim against co-workers, and the
large number of employees bringing complaints in Boston could
prove particularly damaging for an agency already buffeted with
criticism over pat-downs, X-ray scans and other security
measures.
Reports of profiling emerged last year at the behavior programs
at the Newark, N.J., and Hawaii airports, but in much smaller
numbers than those described in Boston.
The complaints from the Logan officers carry nationwide
implications because Boston is the testing ground for an
expanded use of behavioral detection methods nationwide.
While 161 airports already use behavioral officers to identify
possible terrorist activity -- a controversial tactic -- the
agency is considering expanding the use of what it says are more
advanced tactics nationwide, with Boston's program as a model.
The program in place in Boston uses specially trained behavioral
"assessors" not only to scan the lines of passengers for unusual
activity, but also to speak individually with each passenger and
gauge their reactions while asking about their trip or for other
information.
The assessors look for inconsistencies in the answers and other
signs of unusual behavior, like avoiding eye contact, sweating
or fidgeting, officials said. A passenger considered to be
acting suspiciously can be pulled from the line and subjected to
more intensive questioning.
That is what happened last month at Logan airport to Kenneth
Boatner, 68, a psychologist and educational consultant in Boston
who was traveling to Atlanta for a business trip.
In a formal complaint he filed with the agency afterward, he
said he was pulled out of line and detained for 29 minutes, as
agents thumbed through his checkbook and examined his clients'
clinical notes, his cellphone and other belongings.
The officers gave no explanation, but Mr. Boatner, who is black,
said he suspected the reason he was stopped was his race and
appearance. He was wearing sweat pants, a white T-shirt, and
high-top sneakers.
He said he felt humiliated. "I had never been subjected to
anything like that," he said in an interview.
Officers in Boston acknowledged that they had no firm data on
how frequently minority members were stopped. But based on their
own observations, several officers estimated that they accounted
for as many as 80 percent passengers searched during certain
shifts.
The transportation agency said it did not collect information on
the race or ethnicity of travelers and could not provide such a
breakdown of passengers stopped through the behavior program.
But the agency defended the program's overall value as an
effective way of identifying potential terrorists.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/racial-profiling-
said-to-be-rife-at-bostons-logan-airport-648707/