Profiling In, Profiling Out

Former Bush terror czar Michael Chertoff deserves props for pointing out how the Christmas underwear bomber scare reveals the limits of ethnic profiling:

I am going to argue that this case illustrates the danger and the foolishness of profiling because people’s conception of what a potential terrorist looks like often doesn’t match reality. . . The terrorists understand that the more they vary the kind of operative they use, the more likely they’re going to be able to exploit prejudices if we allow those prejudices to guide the way we conduct our investigation. [Racial/ethnic profiling is] not only problematic from a civil rights standpoint, but frankly I think it winds up not being terribly effective.

The seldom-spoken reality of ethnic profiling is that it implies reducing the level of investigative resources dedicated to suspects who don't fall within the targeted group. When people say "we should focus on potential Arab suspects," what they're really saying is "we shouldn't pay as much attention to potential suspects who aren't Arabs." Attention is a finite resource. You can't profile some groups in without profiling other groups out.

This strategy is foolish even when police use it in relatively homogenous American cities; and when international terrorist groups draw membership from every ethnic group, ethnic profiling simply creates new vulnerabilities for terrorists to exploit. It is a way of creating gaps in our armor and then announcing, to the world, where those gaps are.

There have been no shortage of right-wing editorials calling for ethnic and religious profiling, but some sort of cluelessness award should be given to Terry Paulson's TownHall.com column from last week. Paulson writes:

Four years ago on a small regional flight, I noticed four Arab passengers sitting in different rows. One appeared to be reading a holy text, another an Arab newspaper, a third stared out the window. The final one closest to me was dressed in western clothes and seemed relaxed.

The rest in the plane were not relaxed. As an aging businessman, I scanned the plane for allies. Outside of the Arab passengers, I appeared to be the youngest passenger on board.

Poor Paulson. I'm sure he would have been much more comfortable if there had been, say, an educated, athletic 23-year-old Nigerian to protect him. Or a white Englishman. Or a young single mother.

The Abdulmutallab incident tells us that Al-Qaeda is still a threat. Let's not make it easier on them by relying on a sloppy, inefficient practice like ethnic profiling to do our work for us.

Related: 7 Reasons Why Racial Profiling is a Bad Idea