If spotting a terrorist amongst a crowd of citizens could be as simple as detecting non-verbal cues from biometric sensors in the environment, every government in the world would probably want a piece of the new security technology.

A team of scientists at the US Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA) are currently immersed in research to determine whether various high-tech devices can be exploited to spot a person in a crowd with “malicious intents.” The project, run by the same Pentagon agency that developed Stealth aircraft and the Internet, began in 2007 and is based on the unproven premise that technology can identify and interpret physiological, behavioral and paralinguistic cues from someone with mayhem in mind.

Sure, the research project might be reminiscent of Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller Minority Report (2004), in which “pre-crime” prevention techniques were implemented using sophisticated psychic technology to arrest murderers. According to Bob Burns, No. 2 at the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency, “We’re looking pre-event.”

In particular, researchers have linked high-resolution cameras, low-level lasers, location tracking and biometric monitoring devices to measure pupil dilation, skin temperature, fidgeting rate, heart rate and other theoretical giveaways.

The work on mal-intent, which has cost roughly $20 million in government funding, represents a future in screening technology where the target to be identified is not the explosive device, but the person behind it. There is still large room for improvement, however, as US Homeland Security has in the past failed to detect travelers who were later connected to failed terrorist plots in New York and Virginia, deadly incidents in Afghanistan, India and Somalia, and jihadist training in Pakistan.

More at the Los Angeles Times.