I returned to the USA via AMS Schipol in June after my RS tour and experienced a new gate security clearance interview process.
In previous years I went to the departure gate and was interviewed by security at the gate for my flight home. This time the flight departure board said go to certain gate which was a the head of the terminal concourse. At this gate is where I was interviewed and cleared and then given a boarding pass for the actual gate.
This was for a Delta flight and I do not know that this is the way they do it for all airlines with flight back to the US.
However it seemed like a simple and good improvement to the process. Now the screeners do not have to move around from gate to gate. They are all in one place and the passengers come to them. There were a large number of screeners and the lines seemed to move quickly. So I would call it a smart change made by AMS. IMO
Again this was for a Delta flight and others will need to comment about other flights on other airlines.
Another comment about AMS. If you are transfering to another flight to some place else in Europe (or returning home) be sure to allow at least 2 hours. AMS is very busy and there are long lines at passport clearance and then you go through another full security baggage check. They do have people looking for passengers with short connectiion times and do move them to the front of the line.
Again this was in late May and June and perhaps was this way because it was during peak travel season.
Other comments from recent AMS travelers might be helpful for this forum topic.