Airports with a private screening contract have a loophole in government shutdown chaos–here’s how the system works and why its in the spotlight.
The lines didn’t just snake through terminals. People spilled out onto sidewalks, stalled curbside drop-offs, and turned airport floors into makeshift camps. In the early days of the latest government shutdown, TSA checkpoints became the country’s most visible pressure point: three-hour waits, missed flights, and passengers refusing to leave the security line even after rebooking, afraid they’d never make it back through. Around the country, the presence of deployed ICE agents, however lackadaisical, added anxiety. In Houston, someone started pouring vodka shots to lift spirits. It felt less like travel and more like a slow-moving standoff.
There was no way around it: if you want to fly, you have to go through TSA.
It’s easy to forget that the Transportation Security Administration is relatively young, born in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks as part of federalized reform of airport security. Before then, screening had largely been handled by private companies hired by airlines–an approach widely criticized after the attacks for inconsistent training standards and high turnover.
Today, the TSA is the first pressure point most Americans feel when Congress fails to pass a budget. Thanks to last fall’s government shutdown and (as of this writing) the still lingering partial shutdown, TSA workers have gone without a steady paycheck for half of the fiscal year. No one blamed them for needing to leave their posts after the multiple missed paydays to find other fast work to pay the bills.
Recommended Fodor’s Video
But that wasn’t true for all airport screeners. In a little-known corner of the system, 20 U.S. airports–including international airports like San Francisco, Orlando, and Kansas City–already operate outside the traditional TSA staffing model. They outsource screening operations to private contractors through what’s known as the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP.
And in the midst of the peak madness, employees who worked for those contractors kept getting paid–and kept showing up.
As the call to privatize TSA grows louder, Fodor’s has all the details on what “privatized TSA” actually means, how it works, who pays for it, and what’s behind the controversy.
How Privatized Screening Actually Works
Despite the shorthand, “privatized TSA,” it is something of a misnomer. The federal government still sits at the center of the system.
Under the SPP structure, the TSA—within the Department of Homeland Security—issues contracts to a pool of approved private vendors. Airports initiate the process by submitting an application to TSA, which typically takes 60 days to review. TSA then accepts bids and awards a contract to a qualified vendor. Those vendors, like VMD Corp., are responsible for hiring, training, and managing screening personnel, while local TSA leadership monitors performance and ensures compliance with federal standards.
“The airport still works with TSA,” said Marta Czarnecki, Vice President of Communications at VMD. “The difference is TSA’s role shifts to regulation and oversight, while the vendor handles operations.”
The typical travelers’ experience—ID checks, bag screening, body scanners—looks virtually identical whether the person administering them is a federal employee or a contractor. The same rules apply. The same prohibited items are confiscated. And according to studies since 2005, the same level of security.
Who Pays? (Pssst, It’s You, But Not How You Think)
Most passengers’ pressing question is whether privatized screening changes the cost of flying. The short answer: it doesn’t.
Security costs are already largely funded through the 9/11 Security Fee embedded in airline tickets, and then additional federal appropriations. Whether an airport uses federal TSA staff or a private contractor, that fee remains the same. Airlines—not airports or security providers—set ticket prices.
Behind the scenes, the finances are more nuanced. The federal government pays SPP contractors, but those payments don’t always align neatly with day-to-day operations. Vendors are expected to maintain payroll and staffing regardless of delays in federal funding.
That distinction became particularly visible during government shutdowns, when federally employed TSA agents were required to work without pay while private contractors continued issuing paychecks without interruption.
“Regardless of circumstances in D.C., if employees work, they should be paid,” Czarnecki said, noting that obligated contract funding and access to credit allow VMD to keep up with paychecks.
The Tension Around Expanding Private Contractors
If the Screening Partnership Program has quietly expanded over the past two decades, the idea of scaling it nationwide has been anything but quiet in the last few months. For those standing in line for hours, the grass definitely looked greener on the private side of the fence.
“Our screeners are still getting paid, they’re still working what their expected shifts are,” Jackson Overstreet, public information officer for Kansas City’s Aviation Department, told reporters at the start of the panic. “So, in a situation like this during spring break, we’re able to operate, essentially as any other day, despite the shutdown, because it’s a different financial setup.”
Yet for the union representing more than 47,000 federal employees, the prospect of broader privatization is a disaster. While the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) did not respond to a request for comment, the organization reports that the move would endanger travelers. It cites a history of high turnover and short staffing with contractors, alleging that for-profit companies prioritize cost-cutting over security and workers’ well-being.
“Of about 400 airports, only 5% of them opted to join SPP,” the AFGE newsletter reports. “We need to invest in TSA, not destroy it.”
SPP proponents counter that the program has evolved far beyond the pre-9/11 structure. Private contractors today operate under the same federal standards, use identical equipment, and are subject to continuous audits and oversight. They also argue that competition and the performance incentives built into SPP contracts drive innovation in ways a centralized federal workforce cannot.
Before the recent budgetary shutdown, most people had no idea private airport screening contracts existed. Now it’s one of the latest flashpoints in a much larger political conversation about the role of government. Conservative and libertarian advocates want security decentralized to reduce government costs, including a proposal in the right-wing manifesto Project 2025. Critics of this see a dangerous dismantling of a post-9/11 security structure in favor of a system that would destroy unions and increase kickbacks. President Trump recently announced another proposal to cut TSA funding and move to privatization.
For travelers inching forward in security lines, those debates are distant. The questions feel more immediate: How long will this take? Will I make my flight? Why does this line seem longer than the last time?
The answers very well may depend on who is getting paid.