I was a crossing guard in junior high school, because it got me out of some classes a few minutes early. I tried not to let the power go to my head, but a lot of my fellow guards were petty tyrants. So were most of the hall monitors. Hassling their classmates ("You're not allowed to be here. Where's your pass?") while basking in the reflected glow of real power was about as good as it got for them. I think a lot of them must have ended up in airports. Some of the truly criminal security lapses, such as a failure to target young Middle Eastern males, require conscious screw-ups by people at high levels of authority. But refusing boarding for babies with suspicious names can't be anything but crossing guards and hall monitors trying to recapture their glory days.
