Originally Posted by
PTravel
This is not correct. In this, he is in the same position as any private citizen who sees something that he may feel is violative of the law. A TSO's employer may require that the TSO report what he sees to a LEO. A TSO, however, has no legal powers to detain or arrest, unlike a police officer, no legal powers to demand that a person identify himself, unlike a police officer, and no exigency provisions that justify warrantless searches, unlike a police officer.
I think that I was unclear by what I meant when I said "he is in the same position as a police officer who pulls me over for speeding and sees hand grenades on the back seat of my car."
I did not mean that the TSA screener has the same legal authority as an LEO. I meant that, just like the police officer in my scenario, the screener has not violated my Constitutional rights because he saw something which was in his plain sight.