Tangentially to the topic:

I will withhold my opinions on Chiropractors (D.C.) for the moment, but as a Physician (M.D.) and knowing other Physicians (M.D.) who are Radiologists it is hard to tell what danger or lack there of these machines pose to the public.

The Chief of Radiology at the Hospital where I work and with whom I have talked to a few times about the Body Scanners has said the only info he can point to is 1 article printed in the Journal of the American College of Radiology which said that based on the DATA (provided to them, not DATA that they collected themselves) on the Backscatter Technology (which I understand is no longer in use), it would take 1,000 scans before a human received the same dose of radiation as 1 chest x-ray.

With regards to the Millimeter Wave Technology, it is similar to the type of wave that the cell phone puts out and according to what I have personally read the answer is mixed and as best I can tell none of it one way or the other is conclusive.

As an Emergency Medicine Physician, rarely (and to date never) would patient ask my opinion on the safety of the Airport Scanners (they would be more apt to ask their personal Physician), but to be honest, I am not exactly sure what I would tell a patient. I would probably say something like, I have no conclusive knowledge to make a qualified opinion, but that I would imagine that a few times a year is probably alright though I would not make it a daily occurrence and definitely not a multiple time a day occurrence.

On-topic:

I have given a lot of thought to this topic over the last few days and I have decided it is a job like anything else, it is the person who takes the job that makes it just another job or take it to the place of Pseudo-Officer, etc.

People would act the same way whether they worked at TSA or practiced Medicine or any other job where they would come in contact with other people.

Case in point, I called to make an appointment with my Dermatologist to have a rash looked at and while I know the guy and could have called him directly, I try not to pull rank at every turn and called up the office like any other patient. I spoke to his receptionist who is mean and could compete with the meanest power hungry TSA Employees around. She barks at the patients and sees her job as a buffer between the patients and the Physician as well as his protector all wrapped up in one. She demands to know what is wrong with the patient and doesn't take nicely to being told I would rather tell the Doctor personally.

She sees herself as the gatekeeper to the appointments and treats the patients with contempt, plus, she has an heir of authority to her that sounds like you better respect me or no appointment for you.

My point, she is merely a secretary in a Doctor's Office and she powers trips like so many other people, some of them TSA. I do feel that the job of TSA probably attracts a larger proportion of people who enjoy having some authority/power (even if it is very little and on the scale of things and very unimportant)

The funny part is that the Dermatologist is a really nice guy and would never treat a patient like that and the patients put up with her because he is so nice and so good. I put up with it because I respect him as a Physician and because he is a nice guy. In a similar vein I put up with TSA because I want to travel and I need to deal with them to be able to fly (whether I should have to deal with them or not is a different topic all together)

Simply put, I see no problem with a light hearted TSA Employee, heck I would wager if the entire Agency was more light hearted (whether we agreed with TSA or not), it (the TSA as well as its processes and procedures) would be a lot easier to stomach and maybe they would be less disliked as an Agency.