TSA:are they independent or a puppet of the airlines?

How can Delta (for example) give their Delta Skymikes credit card holders special access to elite security lines at the security checkpoint?
Hoe can Southwest (for example) sell priority security line access along with their “Business Select” otion?
Who runs the TSA anyway?
What if I petition the TSA to accept an elite status I create as a valid elite security line access privilege? What allows them to accept such programs from the airlines and not from any other source?

The TSA only controls the actual screening checkpoint from the TSA document checker to the TSA supervisor’s desk. Ahead of that the lines you can enter and staff who regulate them are controlled/employed by the airport authority, who often delegates the access controls to the airlines. This is how program like CLEAR allow you to skip the lines and go to the front at some airports: by making deals with the airport authority, not the airlines or the TSA.

Actually, the TSA is independent of the US Constitution.