Also consider that with the proposed new security configuration, passengers being pursued by attackers entering at the screening entrance would have to rush through a narrow area filled with screening devices to escape.  With today's configuration they could scatter in numerous directions, making further pursuit very difficult.  To use an analogy, if I know someone is going to attack me I would prefer it occur in an open field where I can run in any direction than in a confined space, like a house, for example.

It appears to me that there are ways to better secure the existing location without losing the aforementioned escape opportunities.  Frankly, if the new screening technology that is proposed for the renovation will dramatically speed people through screening as claimed, then wouldn't applying that same technology to the existing screening areas minimize or eliminate the current mass of people waiting in line anyway?