Originally Posted by
Boraxo
My initial assumption was that the dogs were there to sniff out narco-traffickers but perhaps that is only part of the mission. Would like to complain but don't want to be flagged SSSS so I guess I will just suck it up and avoid Terminal E. Hopefully we don't see this nonsense at SFO. Found the whole thing outrageous and pointless.
TSA PSCs are not at all trained to respond to narcotics. So no, it is not even an infinitesimal "part" of the mission.
Every airport is different and has its own screening issues, and something in particular might have been going on at Term E to cause a delay, but I suspect had you given the the line you were in more than "one minute" you would have ended up going through more quickly than changing checkpoints. Several time I have been just as dismayed at extremely long lines at ORD (easily 400 people in the line as it wrapped twice around the main concourse area before getting the TDCs) but ended up moving quite rapidly. The PSCs, when properly handled and utilized, are impressive. YMMV.