I don’t think it’s terribly surprising that this is something that President Trump is planning, but it’ll still be interesting to see how it ends up being executed.
Trump’s 2027 budget plans include privatizing the TSA
The White House has today released its 2027 budget proposal. The 90+ page document contains lots of details, but from a travel perspective, here’s one that stands out the most.
In 2027, the Trump administration is looking to cut $52 million in costs by starting the process of privatizing the TSA. The idea is that TSA privatization efforts would begin by requiring small airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program (SPP), under which TSA pays for private screeners at designated airports.
Per the proposed budget, “the airports that already use this program have demonstrated savings compared to Federal screening operations,” and “the move would yield cost savings compared to Federal screening and begin reform of a troubled Federal agency.”
Of course the TSA has been in the headlines a lot in recent weeks, given the extent to which TSA officers have been used as political pawns, during the current partial government shutdown. Fortunately TSA officers are now starting to get paid again, because Trump suddenly decided it was legal to pay them.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen plans to start privatizing the TSA. Roughly a year ago, we saw two Republican Senators introduce the Abolish the TSA Act, which was even more extreme. It was supposed to “dissolve the bloated and ineffective” organization, while “allowing America’s airports to compete to provide the safest, most efficient, and least intrusive security measures, under a new Office of Aviation Security Oversight.”
It sounds like Trump is actually planning on taking more of a gradual approach with all of this, starting with small airports, and then we’ll see what happens in the long run. It’s not clear if this plan would include eventually privatizing all airport security, or if this would be primarily intended for smaller airports.
Would privatizing airport security be good or bad?
I imagine that people will have conflicting takes on the concept of privatizing the TSA. For that matter, perspectives may differ greatly based on the scale at which this is being considered, and whether we’re talking about getting rid of TSA altogether, or just replacing the organization at small airports.
The Screening Partnership Program is currently used at a variety of airports, including major airports like Kansas City (MCI) and San Francisco (SFO), plus lots of smaller airports. By all accounts, it seems to be work just as well as what you’ll find at airports staffed directly by the TSA.
I don’t necessarily have strong opinions here one way or another. If you ask me, there’s nothing inherently wrong with privatizing airport security, and it would be nice if airport security was no longer a bargaining chip used during government shutdowns.
However, there are also some things I’m skeptical about. For example, if the goal with privatizing things is that the government wants companies to compete for these contracts (at least in the long run), I can’t help but wonder how fairly those will by awarded, and also if that could lead to a compromise in terms of safety. We all know how capitalism works — it’s all about short term gains, so do you really think a private company will be able to do this well on a huge scale?
The thing is, it’s not like the TSA has an amazing track record with stopping prohibited items. However, if the goal with this is simply to reduce costs as much as possible, I can’t help but think that might come with some negative consequences.
I also don’t love the framing of this and villainization of the TSA, about how it’s a “troubled Federal agency” in need of reform. The TSA is far from perfect, but as far as government organizations go, I hardly think it ranks up there in terms of being problematic.
Bottom line
President Trump officially wants to privatize the TSA, with the 2027 budget proposal showing tens of millions of dollars of savings from having more small airports enroll in the Screening Partnership Program (SPP), whereby private contractors will perform security.
I’m not totally opposed to this as a concept, though as usual, it comes down to the details, and how they’re executed.
What do you make of the proposal to privatize airport security?
