$200 million worth of ‘behaviour detection’ officers fail to spot a single terrorist at airports

Hey guys and girls hope you all are well,i found this story very interesting and i said id put it up to see what you guys think.love to hear your opinions

A team of more than 300 behaviour detectives hired to spot terrorist at U.S airports have failed to spot a single person of interest despite costing tax payers 200 million dollars[140 million euros] last year.
I am all for stopping terrorism and having a safe society but is this sort of money justified guys?
Imagine the jobs that could be giving to the public for this sort of capital??
I would prefare this any day over "body scanners", I just think that is shocking money to pay 300 security that have caught no terrorist even though 16 [suspects] have passed through 32 times since 2004.
would love to hear your toughts? [granted not all while this operation was on! but there was a few!!]

Since 2006, the officers have been stationed at more than 160 airports across the US in order to provide a hidden measure of security.

But 16 people accused of being part of terrorist plots have passed through US airports undetected a total of 23 times since 2004 – a number of them since the scheme was started – according to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

Earlier this year, officials at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which runs the behaviour detection programme, asked US Congress to expand the scheme, which is known as Spot – Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques.

John Mica, a Republican congressman from Florida who was involved in setting up the TSA in response to the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said it had become too bureaucratic.

lots more information at link,story by Nick Allen in Los Angeles

telegraph

there are no terrorists, thats why they didnt find anyone

terrorism is just a word that have multiple meanings ... anyone can be considered a terrorist .. so really ... they dont exist

Originally posted by Faiol
there are no terrorists, thats why they didnt find anyone

terrorism is just a word that have multiple meanings ... anyone can be considered a terrorist .. so really ... they dont exist

I agree with you there buddy,thanks for the reply ,in the sense of U.S.A terrorists like Al ciada your dead right.But their is others that are and we can hope they never come to America.
[there might be some now with all the trouble caused in the Afgan provence.]

Originally posted by johnny c
Hey guys and girls hope you all are well,i found this story very interesting and i said id put it up to see what you guys think.love to hear your opinions

A team of more than 300 behaviour detectives hired to spot terrorist at U.S airports have failed to spot a single person of interest despite costing tax payers 200 million dollars[140 million euros] last year.

It's 3000 behaviour detection officers, not 300.

A team of more than 3,000 "behaviour detection" officers hired to spot terrorists at US airports have failed to catch a single person despite costing the taxpayer $200 million (£140 million) last year.

I am all for stopping terrorism and having a safe society but is this sort of money justified guys?

The TSA's budget for 2009 was $7 billion. $200 million is about 3% of that. For 3,000 officers that's about $67,000 annually per officer, a number which almost certainly includes training costs and costs of benefits, meaning the officer's salary is substantially less. It's not an absurd amount of money, but it's certainly much easier to say that it is absurd after the fact when you know that it wasn't productive.

Imagine the jobs that could be giving to the public for this sort of capital??

The jobs were given to the public; 3000 of them.

I would prefare this any day over "body scanners", I just think that is shocking money to pay 300 security that have caught no terrorist even though 16 [suspects] have passed through 32 times since 2004.
would love to hear your toughts? [granted not all while this operation was on! but there was a few!!]

First of all, it's 3000, not 300. Second of all, if it were only 300, would you really expect that they would have caught a terrorist in 2009? The TSA employes 60,000 people. 300 would be half of one percent. That's an exceedingly small number. It's absurd to think that if you put 300 people at 160 airports in the US for one year they will catch a terrorist, especially since there was only one attack on a plane going to or coming from the US in 2009(Christmas Day) and the person responsible didn't pass through an American airport until after his attack failed. If no one was passing through an American airport intending to terrorize a plane, wouldn't it be impossible for the officers to catch someone who was?

Your article says 16 suspected terrorists have passed through American airports a total of 23 times, not 32, since 2004. As you said, most of that traffic would likely have been before 2009 if it was distributed evenly, so there is absolutely no reason to include that number in the report about a method that was adopted in 2009(let alone your number of 32, which is made up). The issue is that 'behaviour detection' officers look at behavior, and there is not really a behavioural signal for being a suspected member of a terrorist organization. There are behavioural signs for being right about to blow up or hijack a plane, but no one passed through American airports intending to commit an act of terrorism on their flight. Meaning, there was no one to catch. However, the article goes on to say that 1,700 arrests for other crimes like drug smuggling were made as a direct result of the program.

What exactly is your critism? That they didn't catch any terrorists when there were no terrorists to catch? Or is it a misunderstanding about the numbers, and you were upset because you thought they only got 300 people for $200 million? Is it purely by accident that your two key figures, taken directly from the article, were wrong in a way that makes the program look bad?

terrorism as it is in this day and age is a business model, a very successful one at that. some major players are making obscene amounts of money. note the key word hear is terrorist suspect not terrorist. I'd imagine if your looking for a terrorist you'd be looking for signs of anxiety and stress as the walk through the airport.

There is also the argument that there hasn't been a successful terrorist attack from a us airport whilst these people have been operating.

another thing I'd like to point out is if you were a terrorist are you going to push your luck knowing how guarded airports are these days. you'd be better targeting shopping malls, supper markets, town fairs, high streets and schools. you could do it in the smallest towns to the biggest city's and induce even more terror in the fact that anyone could be targeted any time any were, appose to the conventional business centers, transport routs and political domains. the end result is the same terror and massive exposure.

In my view it's a complete waste of money and just another addition to the bill for searching for Osama Bin Laden, remember him ?

Yes there is a whole industry living off the terrorism scam. Remember that next time the government tells you you can't get something.

The unknown stack of cash blown on this make belief war could have gone towards much better and more productive causes.

reply to post by OnceReturned

My mistake on the number ,its justified on 3000 alright,your 100 percent right!! My point is to catch nobody at all.
dont mind the drugs,They were only told to go on to drugs so they looked like they caught someone,also to make the money spent not look like a waste.There is thousands of terrorists passing through America every day mate on dodgy passports,i would of tought they would of got one terrorist.
I think its a laugh,in my experience they would be better checking boats all day every day.
If you were a terrorist would you fly in?

Originally posted by bigyin
In my view it's a complete waste of money and just another addition to the bill for searching for Osama Bin Laden, remember him ?

Yes there is a whole industry living off the terrorism scam. Remember that next time the government tells you you can't get something.

The unknown stack of cash blown on this make belief war could have gone towards much better and more productive causes.

I couldnt agree more with you mate,its a disgrace the money blown on so called terror.
cough cough boarders people,any terrorist in the world could enter with no checks!!!
why fly!!! These airport scares are to conveient if you ask me.

reply to post by danielhanson420

terrorism as it is in this day and age is a business model, a very successful one at that. some major players are making obscene amounts of money. note the key word hear is terrorist suspect not terrorist. I'd imagine if your looking for a terrorist you'd be looking for signs of anxiety and stress as the walk through the airport.

terrorist suspect not terrorist

There is no difference to the police or security agencies.

terrorism as it is in this day and age is a business model

sure is in my area

I'd imagine if your looking for a terrorist you'd be looking for signs of anxiety and stress as the walk through the airport

Not in a professional one you wouldnt,faces are everything.It could be as little as a facial movement in a poker players, doubling tracks,reflection scoping and another thing you would be suprised how calming the tought of death can be when you have accepted it.
Im sorry ab out the number buddy,thanks for the reply