Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) [1] is a program created by the Department of Homeland Security. It was originally titled Project Hostile Intent. The purpose is to detect "Mal Intent" by screening people for "psychological and physiological indicators" [2] in a "Mobile Screening Laboratory". [3]
The program was under the Homeland Security Advanced Research Agency and the Science & Technology Human Factors Behavior Science Division of DHS. [4] In a meeting held on July 24, 2008, the DHS Under Secretary Jay Cohen stated, the goal is to create a new technology that would be working in real time as opposed to after a crime is already committed. [5]
The DHS science spokesman John Verrico stated in September 2008 that preliminary testing had demonstrated 78% accuracy on mal-intent detection and 80% on deception. [6] However, this was not a controlled, double-blind study, and researchers from Lawrence University and the Federation of American Scientists have questioned its validity without further evidence. [7]
The system measures pulse rate, skin temperature, breathing, facial expression, body movement, pupil dilation, and other "psycho physiological/behavioral patterns" to stop "unknown terrorists". The technology would mostly be used at airports, borders, and special events. [8] Fox News reported that the mobile units transmit data to analysts, who use "a system to recognize, define and measure seven primary emotions and emotional cues that are reflected in contractions of facial muscles." The system is named MALINTENT. Results are transmitted back to screeners. [4] [9]
DHS produced a 'privacy impact assessment' in 2008. It described the system as comprising: [10]
The DHS plan on using cameras and sensors to measure and track the changes in a person's body language, the tone of their voice and the rhythm of their speech. Civil Liberties Groups raised privacy concerns about the project but Burns from the DHS claims "the technology would erase data after each screening, and no personal information would be used to identify subjects, create files, or make lists". He reassured the public that regulations would be put in place to protect privacy if and when the technology is deployed.
Other researchers, such as Tom Ormerod of the Investigative Expertise Unit at the UK's Lancaster University, argue that ordinary travel anxieties could cause false positives—Ormerod told Nature "even having an iris scan or fingerprint read at immigration is enough to raise the heart rate of most legitimate travellers". [7] Others noted that the basic premise may be flawed. Steven Aftergood, a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, stated "I believe that the premise of this approach—that there is an identifiable physiological signature uniquely associated with malicious intent—is mistaken. To my knowledge, it has not been demonstrated." The Nature article in which he was quoted went on to note that Aftergood is concerned that the technology "will produce a large proportion of false positives, frequently tagging innocent people as potential terrorists and making the system unworkable in a busy airport." [7]
Due to the ability of the system to 'read people's thoughts', it is potentially in violation of privacy laws such as the Fourth and Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. A summary of the scientific and legal issues with the program was presented at DEF CON in 2011 by independent security researchers. [14]
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to, the United States. It was created as a response to the September 11 attacks to improve airport security procedures and consolidate air travel security under a combined federal law enforcement and regulatory agency.
Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats.
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Project Hostile Intent is an ongoing project of the United States Department of Homeland Security and Human Factors Division. It has been renamed to Future Attribute Screening Technology. This project comes under the Social and Behavioral Research (SBR) Program, one of the three broad program areas within the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that "sponsors research to inform, develop, and test tools and methodologies to assess terrorist threats, understand terrorism, and improve national security".
The Human Factors and Behavioral Sciences Division (HFD) is a division of the Science and Technology Directorate of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Within the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, HFD applies social and behavioral sciences to improve detection, analysis, and understanding and response to homeland security threats.
The Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Management Division (IDD) is a division of the Science and Technology Directorate of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Within the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, IDD develops technologies to improve and increase the United States' strategic preparedness response to natural and man-made threats through situational awareness, emergency response capabilities, and critical infrastructure protection.
The EINSTEIN System is a network intrusion detection and prevention system that monitors the networks of US federal government departments and agencies. The system is developed and managed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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The Domain Awareness System, the largest digital surveillance system in the world, is part of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative in partnership between the New York Police Department and Microsoft to monitor New York City. It allows the NYPD to track surveillance targets and gain detailed information about them, and is overseen by the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau.
Human sensing encompasses a range of technologies for detecting the presence of a human body in an area of space, typically without the intentional participation of the detected person. Common applications include search and rescue, surveillance, and customer analytics.
Behavior Detection and Analysis (BDA), until 2016 called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT), is a program launched in the United States by the Transportation Security Administration to identify potential terrorists among people at an airport by a set of 94 objective criteria, all of which are signs for either stress, fear, or deception. Passengers meeting enough of the criteria are, under the program, referred for a patdown and additional screening. The criteria were initially secret, but in March 2015, The Intercept published them after obtaining the information from an anonymous source.
Airport privacy involves the right of personal privacy for passengers when it comes to screening procedures, surveillance, and personal data being stored at airports. This practice intertwines airport security measures and privacy specifically the advancement of security measures following the 9/11 attacks in the United States and other global terrorist attacks. Several terrorist attacks, such as 9/11, have led airports all over the world to look to the advancement of new technology such as body and baggage screening, detection dogs, facial recognition, and the use of biometrics in electronic passports. Amidst the introduction of new technology and security measures in airports and the growing rates of travelers there has been a rise of risk and concern in privacy.