Mall shoppers reported as 'suspicious' in counterterrorism databases

The war on terrorism is being waged against 'suspicious' shoppers in American malls. One such shopping mall in Minnesota has over 40 million visitors per year. In regard to retail space, it is the largest mall in the USA; it even includes an indoor "amusement park." Over the years, Mall of America (MOA) security has stopped and questioned thousands of mall visitors which has landed many innocent people as topics of suspicious activity reports (SAR).

Suspicious activity reporting serves as the "eyes and ears" to help officials in law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security compile databases which are supposed to connect the dots and ensure terrorists are caught before another U.S. attack could be carried out. One of the problems is that there is no clear-cut definition of what equals suspicious activity. According to DHS Information Sharing Environment Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, SAR "may include activities that do not have a nexus to terrorism;" while "ISE-SAR" is "observed behavior reasonably indicative of: pre-operational planning related to terrorism or other criminal activity associated with terrorism."

NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) have worked up a tremendous investigative journalism series on suspicious activity reports coming out of the Mall of America as part of counterterrorism initiatives . . . reports of alleged suspicious activity that has "often ensnared innocent people." Many times, the SARs submitted by the MOA security team are sent on to the Minnesota Joint Analysis Center which is one of 72 fusion centers in the U.S.

Who can wind up under suspicion? MOA security guards filed a SAR on a former Pakistan man who was shopping for a children's watch. "The reason: Guards thought he might pose a threat because they believed he had been looking at them in a suspicious way." CIR added, "The consequence: An FBI agent showed up at the family’s home, asking if they knew anyone who might want to hurt the United States." 

NPR and the CIR analyzed 125 reports with more than 1,000 pages on MOA shoppers who were "identified as suspicious persons or activities potentially related to terrorism." The analysis is chilling, showing a trend of reporting mostly minorities and that racial profiling plays a big role at the MOA. Whites made up 34.6% (36) of the 125 reports. The other 65.4% or 89 non-white SARs were further broken down by ethnicity or race: 23 identified as Black, 1 Turkish, 2 Pakistani, 16 Middle Eastern, 1 Indian/Alaskan Native, 9 Hispanic, 8 East Indian, 6 Asian, and 2 Arab/Persian/Indian. 49.6% of the 125 SARs were sent on to the FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Minnesota Joint Analysis Center or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

MOA security units stop and question an average of 1,200 people annually with some "taken to a basement area for questioning." According to CIR, the mall's security director, Douglas Reynolds, told Congress in 2008 "that the mall was the 'No. 1 source of actionable intelligence' provided to the state's fusion center, an intelligence hub created after Sept. 11 to pull together reports from an array of law enforcement sources."

Let's see if you feel safer for some of the 125 'suspicious' behaviors reported by the MOA '#1 source of actionable intelligence.' 62.4% included people who had taken photos or videos. Is that really so strange considering the uniqueness of MOA? Other "suspicious activities" that mall security report include people who carry a backpack and these phrases: "mumble a lot," "talks fast or quietly," "acting nervously," "walking around looking back and forth without an apparent purpose" with "very sweaty" hands, "not holding his video camera like a typical tourist would," "not acting in a normal manner for the guests," and "long scraggly hair." People considered suspicious have included military veterans and a man with "Police" on his shirt.

A further breakdown of these "suspicious" behaviors that trigger MOA security included a man who was "walking fast and looking around suspiciously and nervous." He ended up being a pilot of a Saudi prince who was visiting the Mayo Clinic. Yet while he was killing time at the mall, security officials believed him suspicious for "walking around looking back and forth without an apparent purpose." Another man was suspected of carrying a bomb in his backpack because "his hand was in his pocket as he approached a large group of people."

A black male had an "odd looking bulge" in his shirt and allegedly acted "very nervous;" the bulge was tax papers which he had protected from the rain. One "suspicious" note taker ended up being a musician working on a new song. Mall security suspected a man of behaving "oddly" and talking to other mall patrons over "a two way radio" that Bloomington police later said was a cell phone. Another man wearing "multiple layers and a heavy jacket," was looking "very nervous while pulling a piece of luggage." His 'suspicious' crime? He lived in Alaska and had just arrived from Seattle. Getting flustered and "sweating profusely" due to not being able to locate your vehicle in the monster lot or getting "nervous/scared" due to becoming lost in the megamall also resulted in MOA security and suspicious reports.  

Throughout these reports many innocent people cave in and do whatever is asked, from deleting photos, providing ID, to consenting to a search. Is it so odd that being questioned as a potential terrorist might make them nervous? Many other people refused to show ID, photos or videos to mall security, but did show them to Bloomington police who cleared them.

According to NPR and CIR, James Steiner, a retired CIA analyst, said "We need to have good general public awareness. But what we really need are trained observers. We can do lots and lots of public advertising, but we've got to be careful. Otherwise, we do the job of the terrorist and scare the hell out of the American people. We don't want to scare ourselves so much we can't get on with our lives."

As of now, CIR reported that connecting the dots to find meaning in all these suspicious reports in the counterterrorism databases is "more art than science."