The last thing we need are federal employees manning the screening positions. Unions and government jobs are two areas where it's basically impossible to fire people who don't perform well.
Look at the airlines - how many nasty old FAs do you see? Complain all you want, these people have seniority in the union and will never get fired, never not get a promotion/raise, etc..
Private screeners with strict government supervision, a dedicated team of people trying to beat security and stiff fines. Money is what capitalism is all about, and if security firms want to use poor quality staff, that's OK. When the government security team breaches security and the security firm gets hit with a $100,000 fine for each incident - then these profit minded firms might improve their act.
But thinking that just federalizing the screening process is going to do anything - that's just stupid. Besides all of the huge lawsuits that will get the government in, it will still be the same schmucks doing a shotty job.
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