More than 50 years ago back when the airport screening program began?
There was NO TSA…..
Even now?
Some smaller airports still have private screeners….
Well?
It seem’s that the Transportation Security Agency /TSA IS looking downsize it’s Federal Employee numbers ( 50,00) for private companies workers, which would cost less in pay…
Airports will have the choice to keep TSA or privatise screening functions that would still be overseen by TSA….
One would think there IS a MONEY angle in this the Trump Admin ‘Gold+’ program….(Trump = Gold Right?)
The T.S.A. seeks to spend an extra $477 million to allow smaller airports to join the Screening Partnership Program, according to its proposed budget, which also calls for eliminating more than 4,300 of its roughly 50,000 agents. Separately, the T.S.A. also recently introduced an expansion of this program to allow private contractors to deploy and manage screening equipment at checkpoints….
…
Neither the emails nor the Gold+ website provided specific information about airports, vendors or funding, but a T.S.A. spokesperson said Gold+ would be an “evolution of the Screening Partnership Program” tailored to airports and regulated by the T.S.A. Participating airports would get staffing, technology and maintenance at no additional cost to them, the website said.
For passengers, this could mean faster trips through checkpoints and fewer headaches during funding disruptions. The moves accompany recent efforts to speed up screening using biometricsand the planned opening of a remote screening center in the Boston suburbs for Delta and JetBlue passengers heading to Boston Logan International Airport.
Privatization emerged on Wednesday as a central focus of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on T.S.A. modernization.
“We want airports to choose,” Chris Sununu, the chief executive of the industry trade group Airlines for America, told lawmakers. “But understand, during the shutdown, know where morale was highest? At the airports where they were privatized.” The security personnel at those airports were being paid….
…
Critics point out that relatively few airports have signed up for the current private screening option, which has existed since 2004, and warn that travelers could see a lack of consistency.
But the T.S.A., in its email to employees, said that a “handful of airports” had already expressed interest in Gold+.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world’s busiest airport, may be on that list. This week, the Atlanta City Council moved to study a private screening model at the airport, where, during the last shutdown, some travelers spent four hours in line…..
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.