IMO, possibly another reason to privatize.

TSOs consider themselves 'federal officers' (and in many cases, the local police do their bidding, sometimes under pressure from their own management to 'cooperate', sometimes probably because they are bored and in a mood to escalate and bully - Yuki Miyamae, for example).

Would this still apply to privatized TSOs? Are they 'federal officers' in any sense of the word? Are security guards allowed to conduct the type of 'administrative searches' that TSA currently conducts? Or would there (possibly) be more protections for the public? Would privatized security still have the leverage over local airport police that TSA does?

(I'm pessimistic about the outcome, but I still can't believe a private security guard could stick his hands in my pants and between my legs with impunity. I'm probably wrong.)