The congressional architect of the nation’s aviation security agency said a “mindless” TSA pilot program at Logan International Airport, designed to catch terrorists by picking up on facial tics and other behavior clues, needs to be fixed pronto before it’s rolled out across the country.
An outraged U.S. Rep. John L. Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told the Herald last night he’s writing to the head of the Transportation Security Administration, bent on goosing the oft-criticized agency into quick action before other airports adopt the program.
“What I saw was a mundane, intense bureaucratic exercise,” said Mica (R-Fla.) of his stop at Logan to see the security program for himself. “This isn’t rocket science. We can develop a better system.”
The TSA’s experiment — dubbed “chat downs” — requires agents to look for suspicious behavioral clues as they ask passengers routine questions that might tip them off to nefarious intent.
Mica said when he stopped at Logan earlier this month he listened in on those conversations. “It was mindless chat with every passenger,” he said — a far cry from the Israeli-style hunt the program is modeled after.
“The TSA has taken a good idea and made one of the most bureaucratic approaches you could possibly devise,” Mica said. “It was not a thinking, risk-based approach.”
Mica was instrumental in creating the TSA after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Logan was a launching pad for two hijacked jets that jihadists slammed into New York’s World Trade Center.
Mica has also pushed for privatizing airport security under federal supervision. He added that he almost “fell on the floor in convulsions” when TSA agents at Logan could not show him a body-scan machine in operation during his recent visit because it was turned off and not staffed.
“They knew I was coming. That’s very scary,” he added. “It’s a mess. A messy disappointment.”
TSA officials in Boston bridled at the congressman’s characterization of security at Logan.
“I don’t think it’s a mess at all, frankly,” said George Naccara, the agency’s federal security director at Logan, noting that his behavior detection officers received five days of classroom training and up to 32 hours of on-the-job training to hone their skills.
Since the program was launched at Logan late this summer, 49 passengers out of 165,000 have refused to answer the questions and have opted to have their carry-on bags searched, Naccara said.
The TSA has referred a dozen people to state police resulting in arrests, mostly for immigration violations or outstanding warrants, Naccara added.
Mica’s criticism of the “chat-down” program was first reported yesterday on Huffington Post.
Mica said TSA agents need more pay, more experience and more time to react to clues before the program heads to Detroit next. “What I saw in Boston did not impress me,” he added.
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