Murray, Frank J., "NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports"

Murray, Frank J. "NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports." The Washington Times, 17 Aug. 2002:.

"Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have told Northwest Airlines security specialists that the agency is developing brain-monitoring devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which it did not identify." In the plan under consideration (according to the Times's identified sources), "Space technology would be adapted to receive and analyze brain-wave and heartbeat patterns"; those data would be fed "into computerized programs 'to detect passengers who potentially might pose a threat,' […]" Less sensationally: sensors mounted on gates would collect physiologic information on passersby; the data would be put into "statistical algorithms to correlate physiologic patterns with computerized data on travel routines, criminal background and credit information from 'hundreds to thousands of data sources' […]." According to Robert Park, Physics, U. of Maryland: 'We're getting closer to reading minds than you might suppose' […]," approaching "the point where they can tell to an extent what you're thinking about by which part of the brain is activated, which is close to reading your mind. It would be terribly complicated to try to build a device that would read your mind as you walk by.' The idea is plausible, Park says, but frightening." In any event, such real-world speculation (to use a polite word) is significant.