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December 2, 2008 11:28:00 AM CST

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Want to Make Your Flight? Chill Out

Posted Dec 18, 07 1:05 PM CST in US 

(Newser) – Nervous fliers, beware: Some 600 security guards at 40 US airports are scanning crowds for passengers who exhibit unusual stress or fear. The federal program aims to create “a new layer of unpredictability” at checkpoints, says the TSA administrator, but has civil rights advocates crying foul and security experts unconvinced. Still others say behavior detection is more likely to nab common criminals.

A government spokesman insists the program focuses “strictly on behaviors and not appearance in any way,” reports the Chicago Tribune, though an ACLU counsel argues that it targets “millions of people who suffer from flight anxiety.” Security experts contend a predecessor program, tabled over profiling concerns, was better anyway—and still failed to catch the 9/11 hijackers.

Source Chicago Tribune

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Travelers pass through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007 in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)   (Associated Press)
Travelers watch as flights are canceled on flight information screens at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in Rosemont, Ill., Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Winter storm warnings have been issued for tonight in the region,...   (Associated Press)
Amber Wasendorf and her son Erik Wasendorf, 2, watch the Radio City Rockettes precision dance troupe perform as their family waits to fly to Orlando for the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007...   (Associated Press)
David Neaderland, center, of Norwalk, Conn., throws his jacket into a bin for security screening as he and his wife, Jody Neaderland, right, take their children through a security check point at Newark...   (Associated Press)
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