TSA Ignores Audit, Expands Behavior Screening Program

GAO Dubbed Program a 'Waste of Money'

Last year, the Government Accountability Office urged the TSA to pare back, if not entirely eliminate, their “behavior screening” program, saying there was no evidence it worked, and dubbing it a “waste of money.

At the time the TSA’s leadership seemed to be taking the message to heart, with TSA chief John Pistole admitting that the program had never caught a single terrorist.

Today, it seems the whole thing went in one ear and out the other, as the latest reports out of Congress say that not only did the TSA not cut the program after GAO told them to, they actually kept expanding it.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D – MS) dubbed the program an intrusion into the privacy of travelers, and one that had no scientific basis. The TSA did not respond to the complaints.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.