How do they match: Transportation Security Screeners

  • Conduct screening of passengers, baggage, or cargo to ensure compliance with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. May operate basic security equipment such as x-ray machines and hand wands at screening checkpoints.

  • Confiscate dangerous items and hazardous materials found in opened bags and turn them over to airlines for disposal.
  • Contact police directly in cases of urgent security issues, using phones or two-way radios.
  • Follow those who breach security until police or other security personnel arrive to apprehend them.
  • Inform other screeners when baggage should not be opened because it might contain explosives.
  • Locate suspicious bags pictured in printouts sent from remote monitoring areas, and set these bags aside for inspection.
  • Perform pat-down or hand-held wand searches of passengers who have triggered machine alarms, who are unable to pass through metal detectors, or who have been randomly identified for such searches.
  • Record information about any baggage that sets off alarms in monitoring equipment.
  • Send checked baggage through automated screening machines, and set bags aside for searching or rescreening as indicated by equipment.
  • Test baggage for any explosive materials, using equipment such as explosive detection machines or chemical swab systems.

  • Determine operational procedures.