The TSA has a ridiculous internal newsletter and they're probably making fun of you in it
Most company newsletters would be filed in the folder between Embarrassing and Unnecessary, with paragraphs written on a 4th Grade level stacked below pictures of the Accounting Department eating baked beans at last summer's picnic. And, unsurprisingly, the TSA's newsletter is no less ridiculous. The agency writes and distributes its own bimonthly publication specifically for the Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) so they have something to read when they're not trying to determine how much a passenger can sweat without looking suspicious.
The BDOs who receive the copies of BDOs In Motion are the officers who are part of the still-controversial Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) system, which involves using a 92-point checklist of behaviors and responses to determine which passengers might be potential threats and which might require additional screening. The Intercept – the website that acquired the SPOT checklist – has also released six heavily redacted issues of BDOs In Motion, and has pointed out just how terrible they are.
Each five-to-eight-page issue has the requisite number of harmless features ("Seattle: More than Just Rain," "Yes, It Snows in Arizona!"), BDO profiles and at least one silly section dedicated to Leadership or Team Building. But they also make fun of nervous or naive passengers, including the "sweet old lady" who thought one of the plastic bowls at the screening area was a tip jar for agents.
In a section called "BDO Funnies," one agent from Tulsa International Airport relayed the story of a nervous female passenger whose hands had to be swabbed in the screening area. "Is that checking for DNA?" she asked and the BDO told her yes, that in just a minute they'd know whether her DNA was OK. So instead of actually educating the passengers about what's happening during the screening process, they chose to lie to her and then make fun of her in their internal publication. You nailed it, TSA!
In a statement to Road Warrior Voices, TSA spokesperson Mike England said:
An engaged and informed workforce is critical to TSA’s mission while ensuring that we treat all passengers fairly and with dignity and integrity. TSA uses several methods to engage our workforce, such as the TSA Today blog, the TSA iShare page and other official forums. TSA encourages strong communication across its workforce. Employees who feel part of a community and recognized are more engaged and better perform their security mission.
“BDOs in Motion” is a newsletter written by Behavior Detection Officers. As always, professionalism and integrity are at the core of who we are as homeland security professionals, and TSA strives to demonstrate this with every passenger at every airport around the country.
Obviously that's what the guy who "DNA tested" that anxious woman was doing: being professional. But as dumb and tone-deaf as this newsletter is, I guess we should be lucky that they haven't published a swimsuit issue. Yet.