I departed Atlanta last Friday at a time when I've never seen it so busy. Lines were 200-300Y long from the initial screening point. As a result of the influx of pax, (maybe they do this during peak times and this was just the first time I've seen it happen), they shut down the north terminal checkpoint to anyone who was not pre-check and moved everyone to the main checkpoint area.

Once you exited the holding line, they put everyone through about 8 rows of serpentine ropes. In the middle of this area they had a corral where two DHS agents with K9s were orbiting, sniffing each pax and their luggage at least twice.
 

From there, TSA agents checked tickets and moved people into the x-ray area. This is where things got interesting as they had every single body scanner shut down and were only moving pax through the metal detectors. Shoes were left on, laptops were left in bags. The only thing I noticed was the tighter scrutiny over IDs/tickets and lots of plain clothes agents watching the results from the dogs.
 

What would have been a complete nightmare took ATL airport about 15 minutes to move over 1000 people through security without having to assault passengers with pat downs or violate privacy with body scanners (and probably with more accuracy using dogs).
 

I'm not sure if this was a beta test being performed at major airports, a red team exercise to see if dogs are more accurate or just a method for moving high volume during peak times, but I really hope this becomes a trend. I'd much rather be sniffed by a dog who could care less about who you are than some low wage pervert getting off on groping passengers every time someone wants to opt out of the body scanners.
 

Have you guys ever experienced this?

Found out from some of my friends this is also happening in Orlando and LaGuardia (all within the last couple of weeks). I read where the TSA failed a red team exercise in June, so I'm wondering if this is testing of an alternative.