WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday proposed to begin the process of privatizing airport security operations handled by the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency created after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The White House budget proposes cutting the TSA budget 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 said that airports currently using the program have demonstrated savingscompared to federal screening operations.
In recent weeks major U.S. airports suffered massive disruptions after Transportation Security Administration security officers went unpaid since mid-February after funding for the workers was halted in a budget dispute.
Trump fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration, David Pekoske, on his first day in office and has never nominated a replacement. Last year, the White House said it wanted funding cut for the TSA by $247 million, saying the “TSA has consistently failed audits while implementing intrusive screening measures that violate Americans’ privacy and dignity.”
That budget cut represented about a 3-4% cut to the TSA staffing levels – with half for staff at exit lanes and the remaining cut of 2% of transportation security officers spread across 435 airports.
The Biden administration had increased the size of the TSA, which has nearly 60,000 employees, as air travel has increased in recent years. The TSA screened 904 million passengers in 2024, which was a record high and a 5% increase over 2023.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Michelle Nichols)
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