The idea for the new badge and uniform came from an advisory council of TSA workers in the field. "We definitely wanted to change from the white shirts [which had an embroidered badge sewn onto the fabric]," says Stephanie Naar, a TSA employee who has worked at Reagan National Airport for over three years. "We wanted to have, I don't want to say more authority, but a more professional look to upgrade our image."

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Psychologists who have researched the effects of official-looking uniforms and badges find that they do indeed tend to make people more compliant. "Our research shows that people respect individuals who wear uniforms, and do what they say," says Brad J. Bushman, a professor who studies aggression at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

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The uniform can also change the person wearing it. Bushman predicts that the new TSA uniforms may make screeners behave in a more dignified and authoritative manner. They may demand more of people, he says. And people can be expected to submit at least a little more readily.

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So far, the biggest complaint about the new uniforms has come from real police officers, who fear that giving TSA screeners badges might confuse the public into thinking the airport personnel are police officers. A former Kansas City International Airport police officer remembers pulling over a TSA screener for speeding on airport property. The screener tried to talk his way out of the ticket by showing the officer a cloth TSA badge, which he kept in his wallet. "They'd start the whole brotherhood thing, thin blue line, and all of that. I'm like, 'You got two weeks of training. I went to 22 weeks of the police academy. Sign here.'"