(Newswire.net — June 11, 2015) — If you are stressed, late for your flight, or stressed because you’re late for your flight – congratulations! You are qualified for being included in a terrorist suspects list and are starting to collect points. The higher your score, the more likely you are to land an interview with a Law Enforcement Officer.
A secret Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) document, exclusively obtained by The Intercept and leaked to the public, reveals signs that may flag you as a potential terrorist. Among other information, the document contains 5 categories, with a list of 77 suspicious behaviors that TSA agents are trained to look for, while airline passengers make their way through US airport security checkpoints.
The document named Spot Referral Report is actually a list of behaviors that specially trained officers, known as Behavior Detection Officers, use to improve security screening.
According to the list, under the Observation and Behavior Analysis section, you score stress factor points if, like thousands of regular fliers, you are late for your flight. You will also score single points if you yawn in the lineup, if your sun-tanned face has a pale patch, revealing that you recently shaved a beard, if you are whistling, or your Adam’s Apple jump when questioned about the details of your trip.
According to Hugh Handeyside, a staff attorney with the ACLU “The TSA has insisted on keeping documents about SPOT secret, but the agency can’t hide the fact that there’s no evidence the program works.” Reportedly, ACLU just filed a lawsuit against the agency for failing to publicly disclose requested information about the SPOT program.
“The SPOT program is bullshit,” former Behavior Detection Officer Manager, who asked not to be identified, told The Interceptor, adding that the program lacks both science facts and simple consistency.
For example, single points can be scored when sweating or if you have sweaty palms, especially if suffering from body odor – a common problem for those afraid of flying, or regular fliers that spend long time in lineups. Any of these contribute to a score that can land you a mandatory visit with the Law Enforcement Officer.
Additionally, you score double points for factors such as if your bag appeared to be heavier than it should be, if you have a “cold penetrating stare,” if you squeeze your bag handle too much, if you display arrogance or “wearing improper attire for location.”
Triple points are scored if you should act confused or disoriented, engage in conversation with the security officer or appeared to be in disguise.
Under the Unusual Items section, the security officers are prompted to look for any unusual items such as almanacs, GPS devices, military training manuals, blueprints, rope, duct-tape, liquids, gels, etc.
According to the document, there are 31 signs of deception that warrant further investigation, such as, again, Adam’s Apple jump, excessive throat clearing, gestures that don’t match verbal messages, increased breathing rate, etc.
Overall, if you are afraid of flying, nervous, faint-hearted, stressed because you are flying to visit a sick relative, feel cold, warm, are bored in the lineup, irritated by being pushed and shoved, had a lousy cab ride, or if you just had a sad goodbye at the airport terminal – you just might get flagged by the TSA officer as a terrorist too.