At my home airport of TLH, the checked-luggage explosives sniffer is in front of ticketing, and the public can see the entire thing--they also have inspection tables for customer-viewed hand inspection for when the sniffer detects explosives.

Upon check-in, the airline employee weighs your luggage and puts the destination tag on it. You then carry your own case to the TSA clerk, who makes sure it doesn't have an "unauthorized" lock on it, then puts it in the sniffer. If you're so inclined and want to hang around for a few seconds, you can watch it come out the other end, where an employee of the appropriate airline takes it, and off it goes.

Here are my questions concerning a setup like this?

- The TSA has already "cleared" the checked baggage before it disappears into the airport's abyss. Are TSA clerks kept out of this area, or can they go down there and insist on "inspecting" checked luggage for valuab--er, explosives?

- How about transferring luggage between flights? Can TSA clerks hijack transferring luggage for "inspection"?

- Same thing at the destination. Is your checked bag's trip from the airplane to the claim carousel TSA-free?

I think you get where I'm going here. If all checked baggage screening is done in plain sight of passengers in the ticketing area--and if the TSA clerks are kept out of the employee-only luggage areas--that would be a definite help in keeping TSA clerks from stealing checked baggage.