A smile may not be simply a smile anymore. Nor is a nervous tic merely a nervous tic. Domestic and international travelers are discovering that both men and machines are wrapping a veil of surveillance around every footstep that travelers take as they enter an airport or attempt to board a flight. The search quest? Hostile intent in travelers.
If 9/11 was the terrorist wake-up call to alert people to a changed world, then recent terrorist bombing campaigns in Spain, London and a foiled attempt to blow-up at least 10 jets leaving the UK for the USA in August signal a slamming of the door on laissez faire travel security.
When Machines Predict Our Intentions. Entering the airport, an alleged "innocent traveler" approaches the latest in travel surveillance machines, sits down within a close cubicle for a brief 5-minute question and answer interview in his preferred language. Questions such as "are you armed?"...or "are you carrying an illegal passport or illegal drugs" are directed towards the person.
"Suspicious" travelers are contained within the booth and are required to use a touch-screen monitor to answer a range of questions. What they face, in reality, is a leading edge technology mix of sophisticated computer algorithms, polygraph lie detection modeling and artificial intelligence. The game? A life and death chess match of move versus countermove...chess master versus Big Blue machine technology...in order to identify and then neutralize hostile persons along with saving travelers' lives.
Photo sensors monitor facial muscular contractions and patterns. Similarly, sensory probes along the touch screen can detect elevated surface skin temperature and sweat, revealing a sudden spike in nervousness and blood pressure. Try to hide your intentions? Yes, it's possible especially if you've been well trained in military procedures. However, the new class of "biometric" monitors has the game advantage over persons with hostile intent due to sophisticated software that incorporates the most advanced programming in psycho-physiological patterning.
What About General Nervousness? Neither Orwellian biometric surveillance machines nor human eyes can separate out general nervousness. A business traveler may be in a stressed state due to missed appointments or delays to the airport...or someone lost a family member to illness or accident. These sorts of "ordinary traveler stress" can be quickly filtered out as non-hostile in nature.
However, live security specialists are increasing their skills and effectiveness at humanly intervening to identify potentially bad guys due to behavior recognition. Signs to look for? Something odd...not quite congruent...like a long coat on a summer day, or voice timbre that rises under strain or facial muscle movements that occur when a person attempts to mask an underlying emotion. When a traveler's emotion is being "concealed", then the immediate and direct need is to find out "why is there a hidden emotion and why the attempt to cover up"?
Travel Itinerary Impact - Airport Parking. Security procedures, minimum allowable pre-flight arrival times, heavily booked flights all signal the need to secure reserved airport parking minimally 2 to 3 days prior to travel. Make sure you've got a reserved airport parking spot by booking online. Expect delays. Give yourself at least 90 minutes of "back up buffer time" to absorb unexpected delays.
Travel Itinerary Impact - Airport Hotels. Travel disruptions due to security upgrades are going to reflect in huge increases in traveler "down time" since books, lap top computers, cell phones and virtually any and all objects except baby food and small prescription drug vials will become banned from travelers' carry-on list.
Impact? Travelers will need to coordinate more closely with nearby technology-enabled airport hotels in order to regain access to web based business work files, or coordinate webex conference calling with customers and home office.
