PAXBoy: But you do mix with ground staff, retail staff and others who may have more opportunities to smuggle dangerous items to airside.
Yes, but don't these people go through security, too? I certainly could be wrong, but my understanding was that international travel passengers (and workers in those parts of the airport, too) are essentially in quarantine, cut off from all other parts of the airport. So long as you remain in quarantine, there's no need for further security actions. Transiting between domestic and international or vice versa breaks the quarantine and requires further security measures.
As I said, I'll get to do this again in May while transiting through FRA on my way from SFO to LED. I'll pay attention this time and see what the security situation is there.