Air passenger behaviour could be next clue for anti-terrorist screeners

The technique, pioneered in Israel, has been adopted by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration at about a dozen American airports, with plans to expand the program.

Those who have helped develop the assessment tool say much depends on the cues screeners are seeking out and the follow-up questions asked of people taken aside.

Some critics, however, say behavioural monitoring is a poor use of scarce security resources.

"What is normal behaviour in an airport? Who determines what's normal?" asked Roch Tasse of the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

"We know very well that a lot of people in airports are stressed and afraid just because they're afraid of flying. And their behaviour might appear weird to some security people."

In a multicultural country like Canada, screeners would have to be extremely knowledgeable about ethnic differences, Tasse contends.

"The way an Italian or French-Canadian moves their hands around when they talk may not be the same way an anglophone from Britain moves," he said.

"The way a certain person from Africa looks, or not, into your eyes can be extremely cultural."

University of Ottawa criminologist Wade Deisman said he's not aware of any research to show behavioural assessment works.

He notes security officials who monitor closed-circuit TV cameras have zeroed in on people who perch their baseball cap backwards or wear unusually baggy clothes.

"We haven't seen any evidence that human beings are any good at operating outside of the usual stereotypical boxes," said Deisman, director of the university's national security working group.

Fairweather cautioned the behavioural assessment technique would provide simply one indicator someone may pose a risk.

"It doesn't mean that the minute you identify an unusual behaviour, that person doesn't fly," she said.

"You just take additional measures to screen out that person as a potential threat. So it's one step of many in the aviation security system."

The air screening agency's submissions to the federal review panel indicate behavioural pattern recognition is one of several ideas under consideration to improve security.

Others include:

-Ensuring new planes are equipped with systems that can automatically take control of a hijacked aircraft that strays off course and return it safely home.

-A bomb technician network, to assist screeners, comprising police explosive-detection units at major airports and local police departments.

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