I think there's a misconception about the purpose of secondary screening. We are not concerned that your blue jeans have rivets. Nor are we concerned that bras have underwires, belts have buckles, etc.

After asking you, the passenger, to remove all metal objects from your pockets or your person, we are giving you the first opportunity to avoid secondary screening with the hand wand. If you alarm the WTMD, we give you a second opportunity to remove anything else you may have forgotten. If you then alarm the WTMD, we have to conduct a more intense inspection with the hand wand. Before being inspected with the hand wand, you are asked, for the third time, to remove anything else that is made of metal. You are also asked if you have any sort of medical implants or other devices that could explain why you alarmed the WTMD. Then the hand wand inspection begins. The hand wand is designed to detect smaller metallic objects than would be detected by the WTMD and is held in much closer proximity to your body than is the WTMD.

When there is an alarm on the hip and we see three rivets sewn into the fabric of the blue jeans, we cannot assume that as the reason for the alarm. We must make sure that there is nothing hidden underneath the clothing that may be made of metal with the visible rivets serving as a diversion. So we must pat down the area to make sure that there is nothing else but the rivets that could possibly cause the alarm. The same goes for any other part of the body, and the most common areas that alarm that can only be resolved with a pat down are the underwire area of the bra, belt buckle and pants snap/zipper tab, name plates for those who wear uniforms and metallic buttons on some shirt styles. These areas are most likely to alarm because, as I said, the hand wand is held much closer to your body than the detector from the WTMD.

The WTMD will allow you to pass even with rivets on your jeans, underwire bras, pants snap buttons/zipper tabs and even intimate body piercings (see other thread for more on that) provided you take off all of the other removable metal objects first such as loose change, keys, cell phones, PDAs, gum wrapped in aluminum foil, cigarettes wrapped in aluminum foil, lighters, shoes with steel shanks (as well as shoes with thick soles...but that's a separate issue), and in some instances, heavy jewelry. However, TSA screeners are not to encourage you to remove jewelry, that is strictly up to you. IF you decide to remove your jewelry, place it inside one of your carry-ons before you reach the checkpoint. There's two reasons for this: one, thieves look for jewelry left inside of bins or the little white bowls, and there is no way for screeners to determine if the items being picked up belong to the rightful owner. Two, whenever passengers remove the smaller items and place them in the small divest trays, there is a tendency to forget about them and they usually pick up only their carry-on bags, leaving things behind such as loose change, wedding rings, necklaces, bracelets, cell phones and other small items they place inside the small white bowls after their first unsuccessful pass at the WTMD. By placing these items inside your carry on, you are less likely to forget them because you will definitely remember to pick up your carry on bag.

We screeners are subject to the exact same standard as passengers and other people who come through the checkpoint. If we fail to pass through the WTMD after two attempts, we must also undergo secondary screening with the hand wand. I carry a military unit coin inside my wallet, a coin purse with metal zipper and small amount of change inside my pocket, wedding band on my finger, metal name plate on my uniform, ball point pen inside my breast pocket, belt buckle and metal clip for my security badge attached to my shirt pocket flap whenever I pass through the WTMD every day that I go to work. The only thing I may have to remove is my coin purse if I happen to have too much change. I'll even push it by attaching my metallic key ring with cluster of eight keys attached and STILL make it through the WTMD, but that's really pushing the threshold and sometimes I do have to remove my keys. (I usually keep my keys in my locker only because it is more convenient to keep them there. My point is that the WTMD do allow you to carry quite an amount of metal objects on your person.) One last thing, if I'm wearing my TSA-issued Rocky shoes or have my old military low quarters, I can pass through the WTMD without a problem. However, I also wear Rockports because they're more comfortable than the other shoes, and I do have to remove them due to the steel shanks in the soles.

The problem is that most people don't realize how much metal they are carrying on their bodies, and either refuse to remove enough or fail to realize that aluminum foil IS metal or that many shoes, no matter how thin or the fact that the bottom is rubber, do have steel shanks inside the soles.

Bottom line: most people can avoid secondary screening.