Law enforcement technologyDHS "pre-crime" detectors draw criticism

A plan by DHS officials to use automated machines to identify people before they commit a criminal or terrorist act is drawing sharp criticism from privacy advocates.

DHS is currently developing intention detectors under the Future Attributer Screening Technology (FAST) program. The FAST security checkpoints are outfitted with a sophisticated suite of sensors that are designed to identify several physiological indicators like heart rate or the steadiness of a person’s gaze.

The technology is aimed at automating DHS’s existing behavior analysts which are trained to spot and detain suspicious individuals before they commit a crime or terrorist attack. Currently there are an estimated 3,000 behavior detection officers deployed at airports across the United States.

Both DHS programs have drawn sharp criticisms from scientific experts who say there is no scientific evidence to even suggest that their goals are achievable.

Steven Aftergood, a senior research analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, argues that FAST is not a realistic system as it lacks a scientific basis.

“I believe that the premise of this approach — that there is an identifiable physiological signature uniquely associated with malicious intent — is mistaken. To my knowledge, it has not been demonstrated,” Aftergood said. “Without it, the whole thing seems like a charade.”

Furthermore a 2008 report by the JASON, an independent group of scientists that advises the government on scientific and technology matters, found that, “No scientific evidence exists to support the detection or inference of future behavior, including intent.”

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report added that “a scientific consensus does not exist regarding whether any behavioral surveillance or physiological monitoring techniques are ready for use in the counterterrorist context given the present state of the science.”

Experts also believe that the propose system is likely to create many false positives frequently marking innocent individuals for additional questioning and slowing down a busy airport. In particular, measuring symptoms of anxiety like an elevated heart rate is likely to result in the mistaken identification of individuals as potential terrorists.

“Even having an iris scan or fingerprint read at immigration is enough to raise the heart rate of most legitimate travellers,” explained Tom Ormerod, a psychologist in the Investigative Expertise Unit at Lancaster University, United Kingdom.

In addition the usual anxieties of travelling like fear of flying, rushing to make a flight, stress from work, or even too much coffee could potentially trigger the system.

In May FAST completed its first lab trials and DHS researchers say they were able to achieve 70 percent accuracy with the checkpoints.

“The results are still being analyzed, so we cannot yet comment on performance,” said John Verrico, a spokesman for the DHS. “Since this is an ongoing scientific study, tests will continue throughout coming months.”

FAST is currently being field tested by DHS officials. Officials would not say where the tests were taking place, but Verrico did say that tests were occurring in “a large venue that is a suitable substitute for an operational setting.”