Yes -- that's basically the rationale the TSA uses -- a mix of "implied consent" and "in plain sight". The TSA will continue to do this until there is a successful court case which will have to involve someone getting arrested under very controlled conditions in order to eliminate any option for the prosecuters to deflect the case away from the primary purpose of this set-up: To challenge the legality of the warrantless "administrative" search which is in the TSA's job jar that turns into a warrantless criminal search from which the victim has none of the rights one has normally , such as the right to withdraw consent and the right to an attorney. Generally, these drug Big Catch cases haven't gone this way because the victim has made it a non-issue by running from the checkpoint or pleading guilty.

This guy somehow got himself into a secondary where they found the stuff. I don't know if he was SSSSd or was interrogated by a SPOTNik.

The only court case under controlled conditions that successfully beat the TSA was Gilmore. Even then, the TSA simply ignored the ruling and imposed the current no-ID harassment on us in retaliation for the Gilmore decision.