Fingerprinting air passengers entering the United States is one counter-terrorism method used today . But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has another idea in the works: a behavioral biometrics monitoring system that gauges small changes in a person's body, dubbed the "fidget factor," especially in answer to a question such as "Do you intend to cause harm to America?"

DHS has actually developed a prototype for putting subjects on a monitoring pad next to a battery of remote-sensing equipment that can very quickly measure ocular changes, heart and respiration rates and even slight changes in the skin's thermal properties as a way to detect suspicious behavior. Dr. Starnes Walker, director of the research, science and technology directorate at the DHS, discussed the effort during a keynote address at this week's Biometric Consortium Conference in Tampa...
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