I have wondered the same thing myself. In the past month I've passed through HNL, PDX, SEA, BOI, SJC, DFW, HOU - some of them multiple times. No two 'security' checks were the same even in the same airport. Standards were very inconsistantly applied. For instance, in HNL, I pass through the metal detector without setting it off, but got patted down by a (female) security guard and wanded. My husband, who also didn't set off the detector was waved through. Sometimes our bag was searched, sometimes not. We have a lead film bag - which only about 50% of the time gets inspected. Sometimes laptops are taken out of bag to be x-rayed, sometimes not, etc. etc. My carry-on was searched, my purse was pulled out of the bag, and then my wallet taken out and the security person opened my wallet and looked into the bill compartment. I doubt that my cash appeared suspcious on the x-ray. And, if they are searching/x-raying wallets why aren't all wallets inspected. My husband walzed right through the metal detector with his wallet in his pocket and didn't even get a wanding.

My impression is that the security personnel are largely uninformed and have no real idea of what they are supposed to be looking for or what they are doing. Recent new stories of people getting on board with loaded gun, knives, mace, etc. I mean, if security fails to notice a loaded gun but is busy x-raying house keys (early post) something is really wrong. Its pretty disconcerting! And of course there is the recent post about the man asked to unzip his pants and pull them away from his body!

I think general standards would be a good idea. E.g all items in x-rayed carry-on bags that are too dark to identify (e.g. lead bags) need hand inspection, all pocket stuff (wallets, etc.) gets x-rayed, wanding is done is a certain way, a consistent policy about shoes (do you xray them or not?), suspicious items on x-ray, who gets patted down and who doesn't, etc. I don't know what the standard should be, not being an expert on airport security, but it certainly seems like their is significant room for improvement. Additioanlly, the benefit of standards is that it can provide consistency in training the security personnel - it is more likely that they will do a competent job if they are given a detailed desription of what it is they are supposed to do.