Aviation securityTSA workers accused of profiling to take mandatory class

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers in a Behavioral Detection Program (BDP), a program designed to spot terrorists at airports, will now have to take special training after officers at a Boston airport were accused of racially profiling passengers.

Every officer at Boston Logan International Airport and managers of similar programs across the country will now have to take a 4-hour class on why racial profiling is not acceptable and how it is counterproductive to spotting terrorists.

The order was announced last Friday in a written statement by DHS.

The statement also said that the class would include “a discussion on how terrorists in the United States do not match any racial or ethnic stereotypes” and that other officers stationed at more than 100 airports will have to take a “refresher course online to reinforce that racial profiling will not be tolerated.” 

The New York Times reports that DHS secretary Janet Napolitano has directed John Pistole, the head of the TSA, to require that employees take the training.

The officers in BDP program at Logan were accused of stopping and searching a disproportionate number of African-American and Hispanic passengers, suspecting that they were more likely to have outstanding arrest warrants or traveling with drugs and other contraband.

DHS also directed Pistole to improve the data collected and to work with the department’s civil rights consultant to review and improve procedures.

“We remain very concerned by the allegations and are anxious to review the findings of the federal investigations,” David Mackey, the interim chief executive of the Massachusetts Port Authority told the New York Times. “We acknowledge the T.S.A.’s swift response and will continue to work with them to ensure security at Logan is legal, effective and does not use racial profiling.”

Representative William Keating (D-Massachusetts), one of the top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee, called for an outside investigation into the accusations of profiling. Keating also wants the House’s Homeland Security Oversight Committee to call for a hearing when Congress reconvenes next month.

“Last year, there was a Congressional subcommittee field hearing at Logan, which highlighted that the airport’s security policies are some of the best in the country,” he told the New York Times. “If T.S.A. officers, however, have evidence of racial profiling, this needs to be addressed immediately since the Logan program is the vanguard and model for the entire country.”