Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe the TSA screening is junk due to lack of training or proper implementation, but behavioural observation is hardly junk science, Israel does exactly this and has one of the safest airports in the world due to their security screening processes. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/what-israeli-air...
There is not a single word in the article about any scientific research supporting these methods. Of course you can say "look, the airport is safe, it must be working" , but this is no proof. Moreover, these "security screening processes" you mention look very much like racial profiling to me. The article states that the duration of security interviews is "based on such factors as age, race, religion and destination"…
I don't see why doing the same thing and focusing on groups in airports whom are statistically more likely to do harm on airplanes is a bad thing.
The reason why the TSA is a joke is because it is wrapped up in politics and tries to tiptoe around the whole profiling aspect, where if they just focused on behaviour and also people who are more likely to fit the bill of someone whom might commit a crime, a lot of the other annoying crap that comes with screening could go away and still have improved screening results.
Also feel free to explore references outward from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictive_profiling