Aviation securityHuman behavior studies offer helpful insights to airport security officers
A recent Sandia National Laboratories study offers insight into how a federal transportation security officer’s thought process can influence decisions made during airport baggage screening, findings which are helping the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) improve the performance of its security officers. The TSA-funded project focused on the impacts on threat detection when transportation security officers are asked to switch between the pre-check and standard passenger lanes.
A recent Sandia National Laboratories study offers insight into how a federal transportation security officer’s thought process can influence decisions made during airport baggage screening, findings which are helping the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) improve the performance of its security officers.
The TSA-funded project, led by Sandia researchers Ann Speed and Kiran Lakkaraju, focused on the impacts on threat detection when transportation security officers are asked to switch between the pre-check (indicated by TSA as TSA Pre✓) and standard passenger lanes. The pre-check lanes, introduced recently, speed passengers through considerably faster, since pre-approved passengers are not required to remove shoes or items from their carry-on bags.
A Sandia Lab release reports that the research project assessed whether TSA’s airport security officers experience cognitive impacts when switching from the pre-check lane to a standard lane, and vice versa. “We know that expectations have an impact on how people make decisions, and that the actual rate of target items in a sample can also impact decision making. So we designed an experiment to independently test the effects of expectations and threat rates,” Speed said.
Though she cannot reveal specific details from the study, Speed says some mitigations based on their findings likely will be rolled out to airports across the country. “It’s really exciting to know that your work has had that kind of impact,” she said.
Human behavior studies and other Sandia contributions to homeland security
The release notes that Sandia has a long history of research and development for homeland security needs, including tools and technologies such as explosive detection devices, chemical and biological countermeasures, border security, and nuclear and radiological security systems.
The labs’ human behavior studies are less well-known, though Sandia has about two dozen researchers with expertise in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Speed earned her doctorate in cognitive psychology from Louisiana State University.
“More and more around the labs, people are starting to realize that the human element can be just as important as the hardware, software or engineering,” Speed said.
