14.3 Multi-Step Directions and Policy Retention

14.3 Multi-Step Directions and Policy Retention

Quick answer: Checkpoint English is often a direction set, not a vocabulary matching item. Do the steps in order and do not swap a standard-lane rule for a CT rule. Remove personal electronic devices larger than a cell phone — including laptops — in a standard X-ray lane and place them in a bin with nothing on or under them. Under current checkpoint CT procedures, laptops are allowed to remain inside the bag. Declare medically necessary liquids and infant nourishments so they can be screened separately. A traveler may request private screening at any time during a pat-down, with a companion of choice and a second same-sex officer. Retain the official numbers that are published: 3.4 oz / 100 ml, 12 oz / 350 mL powders, 50 lb lift, 21-day scheduling window, two-year passing TAB record, six-month failed record.

USAJOBS says officers give directions and retain and implement applicable SOPs. A candidate who knows every abbreviation in Section 14.1 and then skips step two of a four-step instruction still fails the English the job uses. The current TAB is described as image-interpretation aptitude. A widely described legacy CBT included English. Your invitation controls the form. The job still requires following spoken and written steps in English.

TSA does not publish live SOP trees. The direction sets below are public passenger-screening instructions restated for practice. They are not SSI.

Why order is part of the meaning

A direction set is a sequence. If the first sentence is “inform the officer,” doing the swab first is not “being efficient.” It is skipping the declared step. If the first sentence is “remove the laptop in this lane,” leaving it in the bag because another lane’s CT rule allows in-bag laptops is mixing two procedures.

Read direction sets the same way you read SOP-style passages:

1. Number the steps as you find them.
2. Circle the lane or technology that governs the step (standard X-ray, CT, AIT, pat-down).
3. Circle who acts (traveler declares; officer explains; traveler requests private screening).
4. Do not replace a step with a number you memorized for a different rule.

Laptops: standard lane versus CT

Security Screening is explicit for standard carry-on screening: you will be asked to remove personal electronic devices larger than a cell phone from the carry-on and place them into a bin with nothing placed on or under them for X-ray screening. Published examples include laptops, tablets, e-readers, and handheld game consoles. Hair dryers, electric shavers, and electric toothbrushes are not in that remove list.

Checkpoint CT is a different published procedure. TSA’s CT page: under current screening procedures for this technology, laptops are allowed to remain inside the bag. The future goal is to keep laptops and 3-1-1 liquids inside the bag. That future goal is not an abolition of 3-1-1, and it is not the standard-lane laptop rule.

A multi-step item can lawfully look like this:

1. Identify the lane: standard X-ray or CT.
2. If standard, remove the laptop; empty bin; nothing on or under it.
3. If CT, the laptop may remain in the bag under current published CT procedure.
4. If the officer gives a live instruction that differs (unpredictable measures; no individual is guaranteed expedited screening), follow the officer. The final decision rests with the TSA officer.

PreCheck typically leaves laptops in the bag. Typical is not guaranteed. Do not write “PreCheck never removes electronics” on an English item that added the no-guarantee sentence.

Declare medically necessary liquids — then screen

Public liquids rules still start with 3-1-1 for ordinary toiletries. Medications and infant and child nourishments are published exemptions on the liquids page, with the operational details on TSA Cares.

The English skill is the declare-then-separate sequence:

1. Inform / notify / declare to the officer that medically necessary liquids, or formula, breast milk, toddler drinks, or baby/toddler food, are present. For formula, breast milk, toddler drinks, and baby/toddler food in excess of 3.4 ounces, TSA tells travelers to inform the officer at the beginning of the screening process.
2. Remove those items from the carry-on so they can be screened separately.
3. Expect additional screening. Officers may need to test liquids. An alarm is not a size waiver.
4. Reasonable quantities of medically necessary liquids may exceed 3.4 ounces. That is not a silent walk-into-the-sterile-area pass, and it is not “no screening if you show a prescription after you are already through.”

Declare is the same verb as the firearms page: tell the responsible party before the item is in the wrong stream. Firearms: declare to the airline at check-in, checked baggage only. Medical liquids: declare to the TSA officer at the checkpoint. Mixing those two declare-points is a direction error.

Private screening is a requested step, not a skipped pat-down

Pat-down directions are also a sequence:

1. Same-sex officer explains the procedure so the traveler can anticipate contact.
2. Traveler should inform the officer of mobility limits, an external medical device, or painful areas. A chair is available.
3. At any time, the traveler may request private screening accompanied by a companion of their choice. A second officer of the same sex is always present during private screening.
4. Private screening is still a pat-down. It is not a verbal declaration that cancels physical screening. It is not a skip into the sterile area.

If a written direction set includes “if the traveler requests private screening, then…,” you do not invent a local rule that private rooms are unavailable at this airport. You follow the published request path. Live staffing is an operational fact for the officer and the LTSO/STSO; it is not a reason to drop the request on an English item.

Travelers who need extra help may ask a TSO or supervisor for a Passenger Support Specialist. That is another request step in a direction set. It is not a medical waiver and not a career-path title. LTSO and STSO remain the published Lead TSO and Supervisory TSO career paths.

Policy numbers that are official — keep them attached to the right rule

Memorize published figures. Do not invent TAB item counts, time limits, or pass rates. Do not mix one official number onto a different rule.

Those six figures are the retention set for this section. They come from TSA liquids and screening pages, the TSO careers / USAJOBS duty list, and USAJOBS TAB instructions. They are not a third-party English-section blueprint.

A direction-plus-number item might say: pack the 3.4-ounce shampoo in the quart bag; put the 16-ounce lotion in checked; place the 14-ounce powder in a separate bin if it stays in carry-on; lift the 50-pound duffel; schedule the TAB inside 21 days. Each number stays glued to its rule. If you move 12 ounces onto the shampoo bottle, you failed retention even if you can define LAG.

Realistic scenario

A written practice set gives Jordan four steps. (1) Standard lane: remove the laptop; nothing on or under it in the bin. (2) The next bag is on CT: laptop stays in under current published CT procedure. (3) The traveler holds a 6-ounce insulin vial and says nothing until after AIT; the correct direction is to declare medically necessary liquids so they can be screened separately, not to wait until the sterile area. (4) During the pat-down the traveler requests private screening; Jordan follows same-sex procedure with a companion of choice and a second same-sex officer. Jordan also keeps the numbers straight: the insulin exemption is not the 3.4-ounce toiletry cap being “ignored forever”; the 12-ounce figure is powder, not LAG; the 50-pound figure is the lift; the 21-day figure is scheduling; passing results last two years, failed results six months. Jordan does not invent an SSI tree. The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.