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Not a lawyer, but I believe lying to a federal official is only a criminal offense when it is done to cover up a crime. I still don't advise lying to a TSA agent and would suggest that anyone traveling without an ID actually be traveling without an ID. Obviously there are some risks of delay in doing this so I'm sure it's something which will never be common.

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As I understand it the law makes it a crime to utter any false statement to a federal agent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements

So if I said "The sky is not blue and the sun is not yellow" they could arrest me for something ?

Is a TSA employee actually a federal officer?

The security screeners are not officers. Abso-fucking-lutely not. Their powers of detention and search are strictly limited to only those actions required to ensure the safety of aircraft from the things that would be loaded onto said aircraft. [0]

If a TSA agent needs to do anything beyond their remit, they must get a law enforcement officer to do it.

[0] The TSA's kangaroo court has been gradually expanding what the TSA feels it is legally permitted to do as time goes on, but -happily- Federal judges have started to take a really dim view on the TSA's (incredibly long-standing) procedural end run around judicial review.

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