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What makes you so sure of that? I’ve had them swab electronics for explosives before and they never even try to turn the things on. I’m pretty sure I’ve had them ask me once or twice to prove that a laptop was real by turning it on, and they never asked for it to be unlocked.

That’s my whole point: this article appears to be written to make you assume that a lot more is going on than they actually describe.

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This. I've had TSA request "a personal device, like a phone or laptop" twice at the Austin airport. The first time, I (pretty defensively) refused and started asking why they needed it. Turns out I had been randomly selected for an explosives swab, and they wanted to test my devices rather than my person. Both times the test was performed with the devices powered off, and with me present.

I have been always asked to turn my devices on after a search for explosives (and whatever other substances they look for). They do that "to be sure you don't only carry the structure of the device to hide stuff inside". This happens in european flights.

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