(your friends could accompany you, unchecked, to the departure gate).
I travel via U.S. passenger airlines at least once a month, as I have since 1999. Believe me, I've seen the whole evolution of the sad state of affairs we have now.
But ANYONE allowed to the gates in the U.S. where Part 121 operations were conducted have been screened since about 1974. Your memory is just wrong. If non-passengers went to the departure gates prior to 9/11,
they went through screening. My wife and child used to see me off there, and they were screened first.
As to domestic v. international - no difference there either. Laptops out, shoes off. It's been that way since the friday after 9/11. If you didn't do these things recently then it was against the rules. Look it up on the TSA website.