Faces of terror?

• Author: Lipton, Eric
• Position: NATIONAL

One day last month, a man approaching an airport security checkpoint at Dulles Airport outside Washington kept picking up and putting down his backpack and touching his fingers to his chin. Finally, he reached for his pack of cigarettes, even though smoking wasn't allowed.

Two Transportation Security Administration officers stood nearby, gazing straight at him. Then they moved in, chatted briefly with the man, and swiftly pulled him aside for an intense search. Another passenger had just been introduced to the T.S.A.'s new "behavior-detection officers."

Security officials in the U.S. and Europe are subjecting travelers to ever-closer scrutiny, especially in light of recent close calls: On August 10, British officials uncovered a terrorist plot involving liquid explosives intended to bring down as many as 10 airliners flying to the U.S. This led to new rules banning most liquids, from bottled water to hair gel, from planes.

Taking a page from Israeli airport security, the T.S.A. has been experimenting with a new program called SPOT--Screening Passengers by Observation Technique--at Dulles and about a dozen other airports nationwide. SPOT screeners aren't looking for bombs, guns, or knives. Instead, their assignment is to find anyone with evil intent.

"There are infinite ways to find things to use as a weapon and infinite ways to hide them," says Kip Hawley, director of the T.S.A. "But if you can identify the individual, it is by far the better way to find the threat."

WATCHING, THEN CHATTING

The program got its start in the United States at Boston's Logan Airport. After the 9/11 attacks, state police officers wondered whether a technique they had long used to try to identify drug couriers at the airport might also work for terrorists: The officers observed travelers' facial expressions, body and eye movements, changes in vocal pitch, and other signs of stress or disorientation.

If the officers' suspicions were aroused, they began a casual conversation with the person, asking questions like, "What did you see in Boston?" followed perhaps by "What did you like best?" The questions themselves are not significant, according to the commander of Logan's police force. It's the way the person answers, particularly whether the person shows any sign of trying to conceal the truth.

In SPOT's nine months at Dulles, several hundred of the 7 million people who have flown out have been referred for intense screening. About 50 have been turned over to the...