When my older son was 11 months old, we took him to Israel. He fell asleep in his stroller at TLV as we were checking in, before we went through security. The personnel working at the security checkpoint at TLV managed to screen him to their satisfaction without waking him up. The Israeli security personnel believed that their job was the safety of the flying public, with it being an extra bonus if they could accomplish that without forcing us to deal with a baby who they woke up unnecessarily.

The TSA believes that they aren't doing their job if they don't wake the babies up, making sure all the parents know how thorough a job they're doing.

When I flew EWR-TLV-EWR a couple of weeks ago, it took me 15 minutes at EWR to get from the FRONT of the security line through the screening, including dealing with my shoes, belt, laptop, then an additional search because the TSA screeners thought my carry on had too many electronics. On the return, with the exact same contents in my carry on, it took me less than a minute from getting my passport stamped on the way out of TLV until I was through security. Not only did I not have to remove my shoes or belt, but the guy doing the screening made a quip in which he watched the expression on my face as he identified the major electronic components he saw in my bag as it went through the scanner.

The TSA is designed around the American misconception that higher levels of security are directly proportional to the inconvenience created by that security. Unfortunately, most Americans don't understand why that's a fallacy...
-JMP