Pdx elite security gone
 

PDX is generally a truly excellent airport so I was surprised when an extra surly TSA "agent" curtly told me they were gone and then handed me a card which I presume will get me extra humiliation
Plus there is only one TSA line operational at 5 pm with over 100 waiting passengers
If airlines lose business thank the "security theater " of TSA.

Hmmm... intreSSSSing.

What did the card say? And which screening area -- concourses A/B/C (Alaska, SW, American, Frontier, US) or D/E (UA and Delta)?

TSA doesn't operate premium security, it operates security checkpoints. Depending on the airport and the layout, it's up to the carrier(s) / airport authority to operate the "premium" aspect of access. That's why there's an airline / airport / contractor employee checking BP's at the end of premium checkpoints.

This represents a determination by the relevant carriers & PDX that premium security isn't worth operating.

I was at PDX last week. Both the A/B/C and D/E checkpoints had elite lines. In fact, I used the D/E one and was through in 2-3 minutes (after being microwaved).

The cards the TSO gave you typically have the time on them. You give the card to the folks at the WTMD/MMW and they write the time you go through on it. That way they have data on the checkpoint wait times.

Went through a few hours. Still have it, at least for access to D and E gates.

TSA never weighs its opinion? i.e.:"We're cutting down to one lane, so to ensure elites don't rule the line and cause non-elites to have excess wait times, you should do away with the elite lines."

Except TSA controls the TDC. I have (rarely) seen a TDC who deliberately took several non-elite pax before taking one person from the elite line.

me as well yesterday for D/E
 

Well, the OP is really confusing things. There is an elite line, I know, I went through it this morning at 7:15. However very early in the morning (before 5:30 if I recall) the TSA run a reduced service (if that's not an oxymoron) and only have a few lines open with no elite line. At the magic hour a whole bunch of clerks stroll down to the security area and pretend to be busy. This is also the magic hour for a bunch of airline cabin crew to strut up to the front of almost every line and barge their way through.

- Tim

It was the D/E United Concourse
I know there are low yield times when they don't offer the lines
It was the extremely unpleasant response from TSA after seeing the sign for elites which wasn't just turned away but papered over
Two different TSA agents couldn't/wouldn't tell me whether this was permanent
United later told me it was not
But again the process has become so intrusive that those things that make it worse simply drive down business.