The major concern I would have with this is the required training. As has been pointed out here, many of our screeners are less than efficient and one disgruntled employee could create more havoc than we are ready to deal with. Before leaving the states I flew frequently. Working for an electronics firm, I was surprised at how many components were never even questioned. While I speak four languages, I was likewise amazed at the number of screeners I had who had no noticeable capacity to communicate effectively in any of my secondary languages, much less English. I think the primary difference may be in the fact that the Israelis responsible for such security take their jobs seriously and are not there just for a government check and pension. As we have seen, making these screeners federal employees and putting them in a union has not had any real impact on their ability to do their jobs well.
