Trump proposes to begin privatizing TSA screening operations

Source: Reuters

April 3, 2026 10:38 AM EDT Updated 8 mins ago


WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday proposed to begin privatizing airport security operations handled by the Transportation Security Administration, in an effort to save money.

The White House budget proposes cutting funding for the federal agency created after the September 11, ​2001 attacks by $52 million and would require small airports to enroll in a program in ​which TSA pays for private screeners. TSA has about 50,000 federal employees who handle ⁠screening at nearly all U.S. airports.Budget documents released on Friday said airports currently using the privatization program ​have demonstrated savings compared to federal screening operations.

In recent weeks, major U.S. airports suffered massive disruptions after ​TSA security officers went unpaid since mid-February after funding for the workers was halted in a budget dispute. The standoff in Congress led to daily absences of 10% or more of TSA workers and brought chaos and long security ​lines to U.S. airports. The agency said on Monday the absence rate fell to 8.6% after ​the security officers were finally paid.

Privatization could help remove TSA from congressional funding fights. Still, cuts to the airport security agency ‌would come ⁠at a critical time for air travel with rising concerns about air safety after more than 500 TSA officers quit in recent weeks and amid a longstanding shortage of air traffic controllers. Trump's budget included money to hire more controllers.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-proposes-begin-privatizing-us-airport-security-operations-2026-04-03/

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Airport security WAS handled locally (through airport/airline/municipal-let contracts)... until Shrub rolled that function into a gigantic new department. But then if you go this route, the GOP will whine about it being an "unfunded mandate".

And contracting out can actually mean a higher cost. But what they really want to do is eliminate unionized workers and be able to fire them "at will".