1. If they let bags through that they cannot see into, they are not protecting anyone.
Most lead bags you can see through, and I know for a long while there was a policy out that we had to check every single lead bag that came through. My airport told us that the policy had been changed and it was the screeners choice to do so. As I haven't had the chance to completely read the new SOP and my question on the subject hasn't been answered yet by a Supervisor or Screening manager, I can't honestly tell you the current policy.
You also don't see the same screener on x-ray everytime you go through. There is always going to be screeners that are just more comfortable on a x-ray then other screeners. So in one case, the screener may look at your bag, feel they can see through it completely and it's set to go. Then you might get another thats just not comfortable with the image and would like to do a bag check. Your dealing with humans here who have different levels of comfort on the xray.
2. If they CAN see into the lead bags, then the TSA has been lying to us about the laptops.
No, TSA hasn't lied to you. Like Spiff stated, there are items in a laptop that you can't see through. But there are also other reasons that have to remain SSI, I guess.
How about asking the folks in Europe why it is that don't require it? They might give you a good reason and maybe it is better training, I can't say for sure. Most of us here have said that we feel training with the TSA is a joke so far, btw.
This doesn't answer my question. I always carry just the film bags in a carry on. Nothing else. No confusing images. Also, I always use two bags, one inside the other. There may be diferences from one brand of bag to another, but the bags I use are all the same. So why the discrepancy? Either they can see the contents or not.
Why is it some airports require all shoes off but others don't? Why is it some airports are fast and others aren't?
Because every airport seems to be inconsistent with how the policies are enforced. You really can't expect a good answer from most of us because the fact is we can't provide it. We see inconsistently from Supervisor to Supervisor and how they read and apply the SOP to daily activity.
Sorry about the spelling mistakes btw.