Your post helps quite a bit but raises a few related questions:
Originally Posted by
hiltonhead
After entering the secure area, the rules change. You are now obligated to comply to a search request.
Or what (if I don't comply)? Can I be arrested (i.e., is refusing search probable cause for arrest?) or just escorted out of the airport? To what degree do you feel I am obligated to comply? If the officer suspects I am carrying child porn, am I "obligated" to turn over the password to my computer so he can search my hard drive? (Note I am
NOT talking about a border/customs search here; FTers please don't muddy the topic.)
But the bottom line is, they can search.
You say they can search but what requirements do they have to meet to search? Probable cause, reasonable suspicion, Terry stop search for weapons for LEO safety? If a weird/odd/bored LEO decided to go through the gate area and search the bags of every person with a blue laptop bag for no other reason than he was bored, would those searches be considered acceptable because the passengers are "obligated" to comply?
From a logical standpoint (not a legal standpoint, IANAL and IANA-LEO) it doesn't seem very "American" to me that a LEO could pick a random person out in a gate area for no reason, search their bags and find drugs, child porn, or some other illegal item that is not prohibited by TSA and not a threat to aircraft, and have that search stand up in court. If that is in fact the case, then airports are truly a rights-free zone, which is quite scary, because it furthers the slippery slope that for all practical purposes, you have to surrender your rights to move expediently within the country.