(NEXSTAR) – A recently announced initiative spearheaded by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is hoping to privatize security at an increasing number of airports in the coming years.

TSA Gold+ (or TSA Gold-plus) is a newly launched program that would allow airports to opt into a “public-private partnership” to handle the security and screening duties that TSA officers often conduct at the nation’s airport facilities. TSA says the program will allow private security firms to “tailor” security operations to each airport, while still complying with the TSA’s “robust federal security standards.”

A website for the TSA Gold+ program claims the initiative was launched to help deal with “rising travel volumes” and “evolving threats.” But the site also makes it clear that security at TSA Gold+ airports, which will be handled by private security firms, would be unaffected by “lengthy federal budget cycles.”

“Through strong public-private partnerships, TSA Gold+ will unlock innovation, expand screening capacity, and achieve world-class security and customer experience,” a website outlining the program says.

Though it wasn’t explicitly stated, the website’s reference to airports relying on “lengthy federal budget cycles” has also been interpreted as a suggestion that private security at TSA Gold+ airports would be unaffected by government shutdowns. The most recent shutdown, a partial one in early 2026, left TSA officers working without pay until it was resolved.

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Privatized airport security, meanwhile, is not a novel idea in the United States.

The TSA already subcontracts its traveler screenings to private firms at select airports through its Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which the TSA Gold+ program sounds to be building from. 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 the TSA.

A representative for VMD Corp., which handles the security at several U.S. airports including Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and the Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), told Nexstar in March that the firm is “held to identical and in many cases more stringent security and wait time requirements/standards as TSA.”

VMD’s representative, however, also said in March that while its employees were being paid, the federal government was not paying the firm’s invoices during the then-ongoing government shutdown.

A representative for VMD said the company was “most certainly looking into” continued partnerships through the new TSA Gold+ program, but declined to share additional details.

Less optimistic about the TSA Gold+ initiative is Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) labor union, which represents TSA workers. At a hearing in May in front of the Committee on Homeland Security, Kelley 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.

He also said it was “absolutely false” that private security firms would not be affected by a government shutdown, arguing that the firms “are paid from the same DHS appropriation that fund federal [Transportation Security officers].”

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Another major difference between the SPP and TSA Gold+ has come under scrutiny, as well: 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.

As of Friday, the TSA had not returned requests for additional information on the TSA Gold+ program, and had not publicly indicated how many airport facilities had expressed interest in joining.

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