What sounds like a joke may soon be a reality thanks to an unusual idea dreamed up by our national security's top minds on how to catch potential terrorists before they act.  Funded by $20M USD in taxpayer money, the project delves deeply into telltale signs of suspicious behavior.

It looks to monitor temperature, breathing, and eye movements of passengers to screen for potentially dangerous individuals.  And it uses a special fourth test to also detect such individuals -- a Nintendo Wii balance board.

It's no secret that law enforcement officials love the Wii, so perhaps it's unsurprising that one ended up in Homeland Security's high-tech terrorist screener.  In theory, a nervous terrorist, according to officials and body language experts, would be more likely to shuffle their feet.  The Wii balance board helps them identify feet shufflers and earmark them for further screening.  Other screens dreamed up by the researchers include measuring the interval between heartbeats, and how deeply someone inhales.

According to a discussion with CNN.com, Homeland Security officials describe the results as "significantly better than chance".  Project manager Robert Burns insists that the concept does not violate privacy or personal rights, and that it is supported by "a vast plethora of research over the past 40 years."

In all, the project is called Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) and it's drawing lots of attention.  And not all of that attention is positive.  States Joe Stanley of the ACLU, "Nobody has the right to look at my intimate bodily functions, my breathing, my perspiration rate, my heart rate, from afar.  They need to use old-fashioned, shoe-leather law enforcement investigative techniques, chase down known evidence, known suspects and get out there and do a good, competent basic job in investigating terrorist groups."

Mr. Stanley might have to get used to the idea, though.  Homeland Security's Burns says that the organization is targeting 2011 for a trial deployment.