By Alexandra Skores, Tami Luhby, Rebekah Riess, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump wants the Transportation Security Administration to turn over more airport security screening to private companies, according to his new 2027 budget proposal released Friday. The issue gained traction in recent weeks as many airports across the country saw long lines at checkpoints due to the ongoing partial government shutdown that left TSA employees without paychecks.
TKTK – closer to airport opening times: By early Friday, wait times were approaching half an hour at some major airports. At New York’s John F. Kennedy International, security lines reached nearly half an hour, according to CNN’s tracker. In Atlanta and Orlando, waits climbed into the mid‑20‑minute range.
TKTK – closer to airport opening times: By early Friday, the strain was already evident at some major airports. In Orlando, security waits climbed to roughly 45 minutes, according to CNN’s tracker. At New York’s John F. Kennedy International, lines stretched past the half-hour mark – early signs of congestion as the partial government shutdown continues to disrupt airport operations.
Trump’s latest push is part of an annual proposal submitted by the Office of Management and Budget to Congress and is a largely symbolic reflection of the president’s priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Friday’s budget proposal suggests the federal government should begin the process of privatizing TSA’s airport security screening.
It would require small airports to enroll in TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, under which TSA pays for private screeners. The administration says the move would save $52 million and “begin reform of a troubled Federal agency.”
Currently, 20 airports in the United States have private companies operating the security checkpoints under contracts supervised by the TSA. San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Orlando Sanford and 17 smaller airports participate.
Privatized airports avoided long shutdown waits
Privatizing airport security, some in the business argue, makes airport workers and travelers less vulnerable to becoming pawns in congressional fights over policy issues.
In recent weeks, private companies were able to avoid the large-scale absences some airports that use TSA staff were struggling with as their employees went unpaid during the partial government shutdown.
“These 20 airports are completely oblivious to the government shutdown,” Sheldon Jacobson, a founder professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who analyzes data to improve aviation security, said in March.
“All operations at the privatized airports are normal because we continue paying our employees during the shutdown,” said Nat Carmack of BOS Security, which screens passengers at Tupelo Regional Airport in Mississippi. “Our employees have never missed a paycheck during any of the government shutdowns.”
Privatization has always been an option
The idea of privatizing parts of the aviation system isn’t new. NAV CANADA has operated Canada’s air traffic control system since it privatized in 1996, and Canada and almost every European country uses private airport screeners.
Any US airport also currently has the option to apply for private screening. If approved by TSA, a contract could be issued within a year. TSA would select the company that could take over within six months, according to BOS Security.
While airports always have the choice to use private companies for screening, what happens at the checkpoint stays the same, no matter who is operating it, Keith Jeffries, the former TSA federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport and current vice president of K2 Security Screening Group, told CNN.
The security screeners with private companies “receive the same type of training as TSA,” Jeffries said.
All private airport security operations remain under federal oversight and must comply with the same rules TSA agents follow. The companies get to decide how many people to hire and what to pay them.
However, the transition and application process might bar larger airports from opting in, as they might have a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude, Jeffries said.
Why some may be against privatization
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers, has long feared the Trump administration would try to privatize the workforce. The union expected the White House would propose such a move, which was outlined in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative blueprint for the second Trump term, an AFGE spokesperson told CNN.
“We take this threat very seriously and will be in the fight to ensure it doesn’t happen,” the spokesperson said.
In a news conference about the partial government shutdown last month, AFGE union leaders said the administration is trying to use the recent chaos at airports to show that TSA is in “mission failure,” according to Everett Kelley, the union’s national president. He and others slammed the effort.
The union says contracts, usually awarded to the lowest bidder, compromise the safety of the traveling public, incentivize companies to prioritize profit over passengers or employees, and actually cause staff shortages.
“It’s very important that people understand what privatization is,” said Johnny Jones, secretary treasurer for AFGE TSA Council 100. “It has nothing to do with your security or your safety. It has everything to do with somebody making a profit.”
Union leaders also note that prior to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, all airport security in the United States was operated by private companies.
Last year, Trump proposed slashing $247 million in funding for TSA screening and reducing the number of TSA officers “consistent with the President’s goal to reduce wasteful Government spending and abuse of Government programs.” That budget blueprint claimed that TSA “consistently failed audits,” “implemented intrusive screening measures” and allowed “illegal migrants to fly into the interior without proper documentation.”
The proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year argues that private security is cheaper than having government employees do the work.
“The airports that already use this program have demonstrated savings compared to Federal screening operations,” the budget document says. “The move would yield cost savings compared to Federal screening and begin reform of a troubled Federal agency.”
The 920-page Project 2025 also calls for privatizing TSA screening by expanding the Screening Partnership Program to all airports or by shifting screening operations to a new government corporation that contracts with private companies.
The document estimates that the government could save 15% to 20%, though savings could be “significantly larger.” Also, it says customer service should improve.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Hanna Park contributed to this report.
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