Last weekend I was at Newark (C). I saw a team of middle-aged Indian women from a private security company going from gate to gate with wands. I saw their list of flights: Knoxville, Pittsburgh, etc. They weren't assigned to high-risk destinations (unless there's something I don't know about Pittsburgh.)

This was the first time since the fall of 2001 that I have seen non-TSA gate screening for US domestic flights.

These were definitely not TSA employees nor Port Authority police.

Although I am not happy to see wand-inclusive gate screening return, I did not see a single person undergo a pat-down at EWR, SJU or CMH. There were plenty of other goofball TSA measures in place, but at least they were keeping their hands to themselves.

Last week when flying out of SAN, there were national guard members doing the gate screening along with a TSA employee. They were doing gate screening on a less than 2 hour SAN-SLC DL flight, but my flight, SAN-ATL didn't get screened.

Go Figure.

I think there are some at different places in the airport (?) but I've never seen an actual TSA employee at MCI. It's all private.

What would the penalty for refusing a screening by private screeners be? Are they empowered by the TSA to conduct such searches, or are they there at the behest of the airline and/or airport?

i flew out of SAN and at the gate the national guard kid said "Sir would you mind stepping aside for secondary screening?" I said forget it, only the TSA and law enforcement officals are trained to screen passengers on flights. The national gaurd kid, who maybe was barely 18 and completely out of his element had to call the TSA guy over. Then a cop came over because I started giving the TSA guy crap about it. Final result: Cop searched my bag and TSA guy wanded me. Hey I made my point though... or did I?

Right, although at least the national guardskid has some sort of authority. I'm not so sure the private screeners at airports that make use of TSA (99.9% of them) have any real authority. I would guess the airline will refuse to let you fly if you refuse the private screening.

When asked if I "mind" stepping aside, my answer is always, "Yes, I mind."

Right on!

We have to keep speaking up about our objections to this crap.