Forgotten in some of these posts is the fact that the airlines themselves were
begging the Govt. to take over security in the days after 9/11. This before all the facts surrounding the events were known. The public momentum to Federalize airport screening became nearly un-stoppable in no time.
Also, I don't think you'd find a lot more efficiency with private screening if you also factor in the cost of a Federal bureaucracy to effectively monitor the private companies. You wind up with a lot of bickering about what's fair and relevant in screening the screeners. Lawsuits and Congressional inquires about "heavy-handed" tactics etc.
I find the new Govt screeners to be a lot more professional and courteous than the minimum-wage employees before 9/11. Granted, I don't like taking my shoes and belt off. I think some of the rules regarding nail files etc. are just plain silly. But those are not decisions made by the screeners themselves. They are following guidlines made up in Washington, and there's no reason for me to suspect that had we stayed with private screening companies, the rules after 9/11 would have been any less silly.
We tend to blame the person we're in contact with for silly bureaucratic rules, rather than the people who actually MADE the rules...
