New TSA Spy Gadgets to Screen Travelers
High-tech gadgets for better or worse have taken us to the next level of TSA screening. We can now detect a passenger’s quickened pulse and labored breathing, to set off warnings that he may be a terrorist. A simple indication that the skin temperature is rising, may set TSA crews into action prompting an invasive investigation. Is he a terrorist? Or is suffering a simple fear of flying?
The Department of Homeland Security has recently invested in biometric sensing equipment, trying to forecast and identify criminals before they strike. However there are many critics that maintain that the methods are flawed, subject to mistakes,and potentially invasive to innocent travelers.
Proponents of the new equipment claim it is fast and portable, measuring vital signs similarly as a polygraph would, with a single major difference. It doesn’t require wires to be physically connected to the person of interest. That makes scanning covert and quick as the subject merely needs to walk by a set of cameras.
The TSA now has trained over 2000 of its technicians to use these devices, and interview those who are deemed as “risky.” The new devices are designed to measure people during normal activity, and then flag suspicious ones. Those flagged with be further interviewed directly in front of the cameras that can detect the tiniest facial movements to determine if they are trying to hide something.