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(NEXSTAR) – Three of America’s airports are planning to participate in the Transportation Security Administration’s new TSA Gold+ program, an initiative aiming to privatize security at an increasing number of traveler checkpoints in the coming years.
Those three airports are said to be Charleston International Airport in South Carolina, Des Moines International Airport in Iowa and Tampa International Airport in Florida.
A TSA spokesperson did not provide a timeline for each airport’s switchover to privatized security.
“TSA Gold+ presents a new way for airports to deliver exceptional service to every traveler, while advancing security, efficiency, and the overall airport experience,” a TSA representative told Nexstar when asked about interest in the TSA Gold+ program. “Throughout the transition of these airports, we remain committed to operational stability and supporting our employees.”
TSA launched its TSA Gold+ program earlier this year, billing it as “the future of aviation security.” Essentially, the program gives airports the option to enter into a “public-private partnership” to handle security and screening duties rather than having those operations conducted solely by TSA.
TSA says the program allows private security firms to “tailor” security operations to each airport, while still complying with TSA’s “robust federal security standards.”
Critics, however, have raised concerns over what they feel could be a lapse in security standards.
At a hearing in May, Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) labor union, which represents TSA workers, argued that contracted security services may lack the standardized training and accountability that TSA officers have provided since the agency’s inception after the events of 9/11.
“And this reality is why we need trained professionals conducting security screening who are accountable to the public, not to a contractor’s bottom line,” Kelley said.
Kelley also refuted claims that airports with privatized security would be unaffected by government shutdowns (a notion suggested on the TSA Gold+ website), arguing that those security firms would be paid from the same pool of money that funds TSA.
“It’s selling the safety of the American people to the lowest bidder. That’s what it is,” Chris Finlay, the president of AFGE Local 556, said, as reported by Nexstar’s WFLA.
Privatized airport security, meanwhile, is not a novel idea in the United States.
TSA already subcontracts its traveler screenings to private firms at select airports through its Screening Partnership Program (SPP), from which the TSA Gold+ program sounds to be building. There are currently 20 airports taking part in the Security Partnership Program, some of the largest being San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Kansas City International Airport (MCI).
Companies contracted to provide screening services at SPP airports are required to comply with “all TSA security screening procedures” and are monitored by the agency, according to TSA. TSA Gold+ operations will also be monitored by on-site TSA personnel.
But another major difference between the SPP and TSA Gold+ has come under scrutiny: Under the SPP, security vendors use screening technology and equipment provided by TSA. But under Gold+, the vendors themselves would be providing the screening equipment and possibly new “innovations,” according to the Gold+ website.
In a statement provided to the House Committee on Homeland Security, Kelley called this idea “troubling.”
“In practice, the federal government would be ceding direct operational control of the most sensitive technology in the aviation security enterprise to private vendors,” Kelley said.
Not everyone is so pessimistic. Jeff Price, the owner of a security training firm who helped to implement some of the Screening Partnership Programs, told WFLA he believes TSA Gold+ could be a more efficient, more effective way to conduct airport security.
“By using private-sector investment models, private industry may be able to bypass the bureaucratic hurdles to field advanced tech and to more quickly adapt checkpoint designs,” Price writes on his company’s website.
Brian Mulcahy, the CEO of the Des Moines Airport Authority, believes the passenger experience will improve, too.
“TSA Gold+ aligns well with our primary goal which is to make travel EASY,” Mulcahy was quoted as saying in a press release issued in July. “Travelers would continue to experience the same professional, secure screening process they’re accustomed to, but with newer technology that can help move people through the checkpoint more efficiently.”
All three airports pursuing TSA Gold+ programs also made it a point to confirm that current TSA employees would retain their jobs if they choose. TSA has promised its officers that they will be allowed to remain on staff at airports that transition to TSA Gold+, albeit as employees for the new contracted security firm, which will be required to provide a commensurate compensation package, including benefits. Officers who choose to do so can receive a severance from TSA or receive their pension (if eligible) while still taking the new job.
But the AFGE, which represents TSA workers, isn’t so sure. Speaking with Florida news outlet Tampa Bay 28, Finlay said he heard similar promises when he was working at an airport in Florida that transitioned to privatized security over a decade ago.
Finlay said the security firm “called [workers] in three weeks after they had taken over. After everyone had separated from federal service, they called them in one at a time into the office, and said, ‘We can no longer match your old salary. And your pay is being reduced to the contract minimum,’” Finlay said.
TSA did not provide a timeline for when TSA Gold+ programs would be implemented at the Charleston, Des Moines or Tampa airports. The latter, on its site, said “full implementation” is expected by May 2027.
The airports pursuing TSA Gold+ further confirmed that the security firms chosen to handle their new screening operations will be selected and contracted by TSA, with input from local airport officials.
“TSA looks forward to working closely with our airport partners to implement enhancements that will benefit everyone who travels through a TSA Gold+ airport,” TSA said.
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