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Think the TSA should start profiling? It already does

January 15, 2010

This is a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at about 7 a.m. today at Orlando International Airport. If you stepped across the barrier (I wouldn’t recommend it) and talked with one of these air travelers, you’d discover they have one thing in common: They’ve all been profiled.

They’re standing in the Spanish-speaking line.

There’s a screener at the front of the line, where passengers’ IDs and boarding passes are checked. She’s a native Spanish speaker, and she’s funneling the passengers into the line, presumably based on their ethnicity and accent. There’s a Spanish-speaking TSA agent helping the travelers with their questions.

So what?


Well, there’s been a lot of talk lately about the TSA adopting Israeli-style screening techniques, including profiling every airline passenger. This makes sense. Terrorists who bomb airlines tend to fit a certain description.

I don’t know for a fact that someone in Washington said, “We need a Spanish line.” (Orlando has a family-only line that I’ve used, and it’s one of the greatest ideas ever.)

Maybe some agents just took it upon themselves, because it worked, to group all of the Spanish-speaking passengers in the same line.

Intentional or not, the line works. The travelers, many of whom don’t habla Ingles, move through the checkpoint faster. And that’s good.

What’s not good? Well, where does it stop? A line for single travelers? Expectant mothers? People who wear hats? Should they require every passenger that appears to be of Middle Eastern descent submit to a secondary screening?

I don’t know. I’m one of those passengers who could pass for Middle Eastern. Or Hispanic. And I’m just a little older than the average terrorist. I could end up in the “must screen” line every time, if profiling becomes a reality.

I don’t know how I feel about that.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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62 comments

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  • Justin

    *Medal…I can’t type…..Sorry, excuse my inability to type and spell at the same time!

  • Justin

    @ Laurie

    I mean “Medal”. Excuse my inability to type and sell at the same time!

  • Ronda Cantin

    @ paulette, The only flying i ever do is in Canada. So my experiance with TSA is through speculation. I’m not saying that the indivisual people of the TSA are all morons, but the organaziation as a whole are the morons. It only takes one or 2 morons at the top of a company, union, or organization to make the entire group look bad. But from what i’ve read through this site, msnbc, and through friends that do travel often to the states, the tsa collectively isnt organized, and has a one hand doesnt know what the other hand is doing complex.
    The fact that the different government organizations arent sharing info with each other, ESPECIALLY concerning possible terrorists, is stupid, and needs to be rectified. The fact that the no fly and the extra screening lists go only by name is also rediculous, so many people have the same name that completely innocent poeple have to go through additional screening. (like that poor eightyear old who keeps getting screened) It needs to have a better system, because yes, on the one hand children are sometimes used to smuggle things cross country, but on the other hand. its rare.

  • Barry Graham

    Israeli security seems to be able to tell the difference between an Israeli and someone who isn’t, even though many Israelis come from the same countries as the people they are looking for.

    Having a middle eastern look should not be a problem.

    The only problem is that our security lines are not manned by Israelis.

    Nevertheless this is still a step in the right direction.

  • karen

    As a 64 year old American woman who has had 4 joint replacement surgeries, I can definitely say that the TSA always profiles one group: older people in wheelchairs, who often can’t walk properly and have had operations leaving metal in their bodies. Even before the Christmas day terrorist, I’ve been handled in inappropriate places on my body, had my hands screened for bomb residue and made to get out of my wheelchair and try to walk, without being able to use my cane, so that I very nearly fell over. When will the TSA stop targeting seniors, wasting time and lots of money?The truth is that it is so painful to get a joint replacement that no one does this unless they definitely want to LIVE. Anything else is unthinkable.

  • Joe Farrell

    Don’t worry about Justin – he is against anything that might be effective. He called me a racist for opining that Muslim males between 15 and 45 need to get supplemental screening when coming to the United States. I might be a screaming bad religionist but race has nothing to do with it since Muslim males can be from all races . . .

    Dog would work – maybe. There have been a few tests and dogs are not as reliable as one might think. And a piece of steak in ones pants can be sufficiently distracting to let someone else in. And its not just

    By ‘profiling’ people automatically think racial or appearance or some other standard – which is w rong. Behavior profiling EVERYONE does, consciously or not.

  • Carver

    @Joe

    It is true that a muslim male can be from any country. Its equally true that a muslim male can be of any ethnicity. Therefore, from a logistical point, how you screen based upon religion. I don’t recall every identifying myself as a Christian on any government documents.

  • Joe Farrell

    Carver – you simply ask – on the visa application. Or assume – since it is illegal to not be Muslim in many islamic nations. My siuggestion was to profile, search, whatever, non-citizen males between certain ages traveling to or from the United States. You need a visa to come into the US [except from certain nations] and a passport to leave along with the visa to enter. The process will be fairly simple.

    You may not catch every one but to or from or through certain nations – along with asking on the form. Can someone lie? Certainly. But the overall policy will catch almost everyone.

  • Brooklyn

    @Barry Graham: I know an American journalist of Irish descent who was endlessly harassed by the Israelis while on assignment there because of this olive skin and dark hair. Profiling sounds fine if you don’t think you’ll be the one profiled, but it’s a bad idea because, by limiting the pool of people whose rights are being violated, it allows the authorities to get away with pretty much anything they want in the knowledge that the victims won’t have enough of a voice to be heard.

  • naoma

    I am curious as to what profile into which I fall. I’ve been pulled over because I wear 2 watches — one is jewelry; one for multiple time zones; I wear dresses that look like trench coats and have been ordered to “remove your coat.” Husband has shoes with wires and batteries in them — very special running shoes. He was asked about them when they went through the scanner and passed through. I am 5’3″ tall, blonde, elderly. Go figure.

  • Carver

    @Joe

    I’m not comfortable screening people based upon their religion. That would effectively make Muslims second class Americans which I think is very un-American.

    As I see it, we are at war with terrorists, regardless of who they are. Having said that, we know which countries/groups sponsor terrorism. Therefore, anyone who has spent more than a perfunctory amount of time in those countries or have associated with those groups should be profiled and given appropriate levels of screening.

    However, I am for profiling.

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