Originally Posted by
baseball
I think that's the take-away.
When they chat you up at security they aren't being friendly. They are gaining an opportunity to get closer and into your personal space so they can smell you up and more closely scrutinize your verbal skills and your non verbal gestures.
I don't know what sort of training they have, but it seems to be effective.
It's hard to tell how "effective" they are, because only the "hits" make the press/news. If they accuse 10 pilots of drinking and no one blows even .01, that doesn't make anyone notice, but if the 11th blows .03 from the night before....watch out!