DHS is testing a machine which, from a distance, senses changes in individuals' perspiration, respiration, and heart rate typically associated with anxiety one feels before committing a terrorist act
A mind is a terrible thing to waste not only in the sense of realizing one's life potential, but also as a tool of detection for preventing terrorist attacks. DHS is now testing the next generation of security screening -- a body scanner that can read your mind. On Monday we wrote about a patent application by a Drexel University researcher for a new infrared lie detector which measures brain activity associated with lying (see 22 September 2008 HS Daily Wire), and now Fox News's Allison Barrie writes that that most preventive screening looks for explosives or metals that pose a threat, but a new system called MALINTENT turns the old school approach on its head. This machine detects the person -- not the device -- set to wreak havoc and terror.
MALINTENT, the brainchild of the cutting-edge Human Factors division DHS's directorate for Science and Technology, searches the body for non-verbal cues that predict whether one means harm to fellow passengers. It has a series of sensors and imagers that read body temperature, heart rate, and respiration for unconscious indications invisible to the naked eye -- signals terrorists and criminals may display in advance of an attack.
This is no polygraph test. Subjects do not get hooked up or strapped down for a careful reading; those sensors do all the work without any actual physical contact. Currently, all the sensors and equipment are packaged inside a mobile screening laboratory about the size of a trailer or large truck bed, and last week DHS put it to a field test in Maryland, scanning 144 mostly unwitting human subjects.
The 144 test subjects thought they were merely passing through an entrance way, but they actually passed through a series of sensors that screened them for bad intentions. DHS also selected a group of 23 attendees to be civilian "accomplices" in their test. They were each given a "disruptive device" to carry through the portal -- and, unlike the other attendees, were conscious that they were on a mission. In order to conduct these tests on human subjects, DHS had to meet rigorous safety standards to ensure the screening would not cause any physical or emotional harm.
This is how it works. When the sensors identify that something is off, they transmit warning data to analysts, who decide whether to flag passengers for further questioning. The next step involves micro-facial scanning, which involves measuring minute muscle movements in the face for clues to mood and intention. DHS has developed a system to recognize, define, and measure seven primary emotions and emotional cues that are reflected in contractions of facial muscles. MALINTENT identifies these emotions and relays the information back to a security screener almost in real-time.
This whole security array -- the scanners and screeners who make up the mobile lab -- is called "Future Attribute Screening Technology," or FAST, because it is designed to get passengers through security in two to four minutes, and often faster. Now, if one is rushed or stressed, one may send out signals of anxiety, but FAST is not confused. It is already good enough to tell the difference between a harried traveler and a terrorist. Even if one sweats heavily by nature, FAST will not mistake you for a baddie. "If you focus on looking at the person, you don't have to worry about detecting the device itself," said Bob Burns, MALINTENT's project leader. While there are devices out there that look at individual cues, a comprehensive screening device like this has never before been put together. FAST's success rate is classified, Undersecretary for Science and Technology Adm. Jay Cohen declared the experiment a "home run."
As cold and inhuman as the electric eye may be, DHS says scanners are unbiased and nonjudgmental. "It does not predict who you are and make a judgment, it only provides an assessment in situations," said Burns. "It analyzes you against baseline stats when you walk in the door, it measures reactions and variations when you approach and go through the portal."
The testing, though, and the device itself, are not without their problems. The invasive scanner catalogues one's vital signs for non-medical reasons, and some may regard it as an uninvited doctor's exam and raises many privacy issues. DHS says this is not Big Brother. Once one is through the FAST portal, one's scrutiny is over and records are not kept. "Your data is dumped," said Burns. "The information is not maintained -- it doesn't track who you are."
DHS is now planning an even wider array of screening technology, including an eye scanner next year and pheromone-reading technology by 2010. The team will also be adding equipment which reads body movements, or what the developers call "illustrative and emblem Cues." According to Burns, this is achievable because people "move in reaction to what they are thinking, more or less based on the context of the situation."
Note that FAST may also incorporate biological, radiological, and explosive detection, but for now the primary focus is on identifying and isolating potential human threats. Because FAST is a mobile screening laboratory, it could be set up at entrances to stadiums, malls, and in airports, making it ever more difficult for terrorists to live and work among us.
Burns noted his team's goal is to "restore a sense of freedom." Barrie writes that once MALINTENT is rolled out in airports, "it could give us a future where we can once again wander onto planes with super-sized cosmetics and all the bottles of water we can carry -- and most importantly without that sense of foreboding that has haunted Americans since Sept. 11."