Racial Profiling at Logan Airport Undermines Security and Freedom

http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-racial-justice/racial-profiling-logan-airport-undermines-security-and-freedom

Reports that the so-called "behavioral detection program" at Logan Airport leads to racial profiling is front-page news in today's Sunday New York Times. You have to admire the courage of the TSA screeners who raised the alarm that pressure from TSA management to meet quotas leads to targeting of passengers based on their race, ethnicity, and religion-- even when they clearly pose no terrorist threat.

Programs based on behavioral assessment have never been shown to keep us safe or to stop terrorists. In fact, a recent investigation by the General Accounting Office suggests that the program was adopted despite having no scientific basis. That, when combined with pressure on TSA screeners to meet artificial quotas for reporting "suspicious" behaviors, clearly results in pressure on TSA screeners to profile people based on the way they look -- rather than how they act.