TSA seeks technology to ID suspicious travelers

The Transportation Security Administration asked industry to suggest technologies for rounding up the usual suspects.

The agency asked respondents to specify how technologies would function in theory and in operation, how quickly they would work, how reliable they would be, how much training their users would require, potential costs and resistance to countermeasures.TSA calls the project "Technologies for Detecting Suspicious Behavior." The market consulting firm Input Inc. of Reston, Va., forecast that the government may issue a proposal request this month.TSA officials were not immediately available for comment. Washington Technology's .

The Homeland Security Department's Transportation Security Administration has asked industry to suggest technologies for detecting suspicious behavior.

TSA issued a request for information Aug. 1 describing the types of technology it is interested in to tell whether travelers are acting suspiciously. Replies were due Aug. 28.

The agency's information request specified various aspects of the technology that TSA seeks to develop for detecting suspicious behavior. The agency stated that it has not yet decided whether to issue a request for proposals for the technology.

According to the RFI, desirable technologies for detecting suspicious behavior would have the following characteristics:

  • Useful for tracking travelers or employees in airports, train stations and bus terminals

  • Noninvasive, remote, covert, passive, automatic and suitable for area as well as portal use and

  • Potential sensing of physiological response or overt behavior associated with malicious intent.







Wilson S. Dizard III is a staff writer forsister publication,Government Computer News