TSA suspicious-behavior criteria are so vague anyone qualifies but only some are stopped

Evidence

Behavioral detection officers have also come forward as whistleblowers of racial profiling in airports. According to the ACLU’s website, former BDOs have come out and stated that these behavioral detection programs are “racial profiling programs” and give TSA agents the “license to harass” (Handeyside 2014). In 2015, the Intercept published an article about the “Spot Referral Report” that TSA agents use to determine suspicious behavior. Those listed on this document include exaggerated yawning, excessive complaining of the screening process, excessive throat clearing, widely open staring eyes, gazing down, and even a pale face from recently shaving a beard (Winter and Currier 2015). — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 167

Categorization

• SEED: The SPOT referral report’s absurd criteria (excessive throat clearing, pale face from a recent shave) would make a sharp piece on how ‘objective’ surveillance masks discretionary bias.
• QUESTION: The pale-face-from-shaving criterion explicitly targets recently shaved beards — worth chasing how facial hair functions as a racializing marker in airport security.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 167
• XREF: connects to: TSA screening behaviors are so vague they justify any targeted stop. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 223