WASHINGTON – Three US airports have become the first to opt in to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new private screening model, prompting staunch opposition from the union that represents thousands of TSA workers.

The airports – Tampa International Airport, Des Moines International Airport and Charleston International Airport – plan to transition to the new voluntary public-private screening initiative, an agency spokesperson confirmed on July 22.

The initiative, called Gold+, has been billed by the agency as an update to an existing programme through which 20 US airports, including San Francisco International, use private security screeners rather than federal workers. The TSA first announced the new programme in a mass email to staff members in May.

In the wake of recent government shutdowns, which left TSA agents unpaid for months and led to long lines, airport officials in Tampa and Des Moines said they hoped using the programme would reduce the risk of disruptions while allowing airports to access new screening checkpoint technology that they say would otherwise take years to obtain through the traditional federal process.

But the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 47,000 TSA agents across the country, said in a statement on July 21 that the Trump administration’s push to expand privatisation of aviation security could jeopardise public safety and represented a “major departure” from the system created by Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

“Changes of this magnitude should not be made behind closed doors without the input of Congress, the flying public, the local airport authorities, and TSA employees themselves,” said Everett Kelley, the union’s national president. Kelley added that he believed continued privatisation could pose a significant danger: “We don’t have to theorise about what that may look like because we have been through this before.”

The TSA replaced a patchwork of private security at US airport checkpoints after the attacks. Unlike the firms participating in the current private security programme, the companies used before the attacks were not directly overseen by the federal government.

Under Gold+, private contractors would be in control of security screening functions and the screening technology itself, according to the union. The TSA would continue to have regulatory oversight.

The agency did not respond to questions regarding how long the transitions would take or what the procurement process for private screening contractors would look like. But an email sent from the agency to the union’s council president on July 20, which was obtained by The New York Times, said security officers at the three airports underwent briefings this week regarding the new programme and what it would mean for employees.

The email included the following transition dates: January 2027 for Des Moines, Iowa; February 2027 for Charleston, South Carolina; and May 2027 for Tampa, Florida.

In a statement, Emily Nipps, a spokeswoman for the Tampa airport, said airport officials were told that any airport that applies for the new programme could withdraw its application at any time before a contract is issued. Brian Mulcahy, the chief executive of the Des Moines Airport Authority, said in a statement that any current security officers would have the option to continue working at the airport after the TSA selected a screening contractor.

Mulcahy also said that federal law would ensure that pay and benefits for private screeners would be comparable with those of TSA agents.

A representative for the Charleston airport did not immediately respond to request for comment.

A TSA spokesperson said the agency remains committed to stabilised operations and supporting employees throughout the transition at these airports.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world’s busiest airport, is undergoing an independent study to evaluate whether the airport should privatise screening. During the last shutdown, some travellers spent four hours in Atlanta’s TSA line. NYTIMES

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Three US airports plan to ditch TSA amid push for private security