Can anyone tell me the reason why we have to take the laptop out of the bag before it goes through the Xray machine? What can they see with it out of the bag that they can't see with it in the bag?

During the Gulf War when security was tightened, I understood. The actually made you turn it on to see that it was a working device and not something that looked like a laptop and was filled with C4 or something. They don't have you turn them on now.

When I asked a security agent why we do this, his answer....because we were told to. They don't know either.