• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 13, 2017

While the Department of Homeland Security is moving ahead with its plans to introduce social media screening of visitors to the United States, there may be a few snags to deal with before broad-based implementation of automated screening, like the fact that it currently doesn’t work.

At least, that seems to be the upshot of a new report from the DHS reviewing some of the first attempts by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which tested out several social media screening programs following the December 2015 terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, CA, only to find that the software produced inconsistent and unreliable results.

After comparing the results of automated screening and screening of social media profiles by human beings, the USCIS discovered that the software tools were unable to accurately match social media profiles with selected individuals.

The DHS report concluded: “In reviewing the pilot, USCIS concluded that the [redacted] tool was not a viable option for automated social media screening and that manual review was more effective at identifying accounts.”

The screening tools, including one program produced by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), were not named in the reports.

Of course, this is just the “first bite of the apple,” as the saying goes, and with a few billion dollars to throw at the problem the government will probably figure out how to make the system work.

On that note, the DHS has identified a total of 275 possible screening tools and plans to continue testing various options.

This may take a bit longer without the help of big Silicon Valley tech firms, which have stated their opposition to the Trump administration’s ban on immigration from certain Middle Eastern countries, and will probably be reluctant to be seen helping with screening efforts while the ban remains in place.

Some other obvious questions – like whether would-be terrorists would share information about their intentions on social media – will have to wait for another report.