Standing in line at an airport waiting to get through security operated by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), it’s tempting to see at least some of the TSA procedures as security theater — the appearance of security — more than real and effective security.

Air travelers wait in sometimes long lines and as they approach security screening. They remove laptop computers from carry-on bags and take off their belts and shoes. They empty their pockets and put everything in separate plastic bins to be scanned.

The security screening looks serious, with high tech scanners and imaging devices examining every bag and passenger.

Yet while the TSA security operation probably has kept air travel safer, there is little doubt that TSA securty is part theater, giving the flying public a sense of security and the impression that the government is doing something.

The challenges of security in today’s world are no doubt difficult. But former TSA employees and whistleblowers have exposed some of the absurdities of federal policy that confiscated finger nail clippers and had TSA agents patting down infants and elderly grandmothers.

Another troubling view of airline security was brought to light by the investigation by New York authorities of a gun running operation that illegally moved 153 firearms from Atlanta to New York City over seven months.

According to investigators, the gun running was accomplished with the help of a baggage handler at Atlanta’s airport who carried the guns in his duffle bag as he went to work without having to pass through security checks.

That fact should stun passengers who stand patiently in TSA security lines waiting to remove their shoes ans belts and putting laptop computers in plastic bins. Those passengers often observe airline pilots and flight attendents going through expedited security, yet baggage handlers and others people working behing the scenes at airports are not universally required to pass through security screening?

The New York investigation, prosecuted by the Brooklyn disttrict attorney’s office, found that the guns were carried by the baggage handler who met with an accomplice at a bathroom where the guns were exchangd for cash and given by the baggage handler to the passenger, who put them in his carry-on bag, which had been been cleared through TSA x-ray machines earlier.

The New York Times reported that similar gun-running operations were carried out at several other U.S. airports and operated for five years. How could TSA officials not address the potential for trouble, the ability to smuggle bombs instead of guns, while the agency was telling passengers that a shampoo bottle containing more than three ounces of liquid would be confiscated at the security checkpoint?

According to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., each airport has its own policy for screening baggage handlers, airplane cleaning crews and mechanics. Why? If every passenger must stand in line and empty their pockets after removing belts and shoes, the flying public certainly expects anyone with access to an airliner to go through some level of security. Schumer is calling on the TSA to require that now.

The side of the TSA operation that passengers see appears to be thorough and professional, even if the policy for belts and shoes is questionable. What goes on — or doesn’t go on — behind the scenes at airports and inside TSA offices is doubly troubling.