Reminds me of school days. As if we don’t have enough hassles getting through airport security, TSA has behavior detection officers on the job. Will they carry rulers and rap us on the knuckles or butt if we misbehave? Marie P., Milwaukee WI

A: You must have bad memories about school days. The specially-trained behavior detection officers are not there to punish misbehaving kids. They look for unusual and potentially dangerous psychological symptoms as passengers go through security.

If the officers detect anyone acting oddly, such as unusual nervousness or stress, the suspected person may be held for further interrogation and physical exam. A similar psychological detection system is continuously refined by El Al, the airline of Israel.

Not one attempt of hijacking has ever been successful on El Al flights, where tight security measures have been absolutely necessary against terrorists since long before the American disaster of 9/11/01.