What happened to Peter DeFazio on Monday may result in better and less intrusive security at U.S. airports.

At about 5 on Monday morning, the congressman whose 4th District includes Linn County left his Springfield home, went to the Eugene airport, underwent routine security screenings and flew to Portland for a connecting flight to Washington, D.C.

At PDX, he was in line at the gate - two behind Congressman Greg Walden and one ahead of Congressman Earl Blumenauer - when Transportation Security Administration agents yelled at him from 10 feet away to "come over here."

He said he went, plunked down his bags and two agents wearing rubber gloves rummaged through them.

"I said I think this is stupid," DeFazio said today from Washington. "I've already been through security, you've already screened my bags. What are you gonna find with rubber gloves?"

He also told the agents he happened to be an expert on airport security as a member of the House aviation subcommittee since the 1980s.

"This doesn't make any sense," he said.

The agents, who had picked him at random, went through his bags, said thank you and that was the end of it, DeFazio said.

On Tuesday he had a meeting with three TSA officials in Washington. He learned the agency was doing experimental programs at different airports to improve security. The details are classified.

"They are trying different things; they want to break patterns, and that's good security. They just need to work on things … We had a good meeting."

Monday's screening incident hit the news after somebody - he suspects some "Republican operative" also in line - called the Roll Call newspaper on Capitol Hill with what the congressman said was a distorted version of what happened.

DeFazio makes the round trip from Eugene to Washington via Portland about 30 times a year.

Five years ago the TSA confiscated a quarter-ounce of prescription eyedrops from him. His complaint about that led to a uniform rule on liquids passengers can take.

"I go through security like everybody else," DeFazio said. "I want to learn from it. This is a case where we need a little improvement."