TSA Gold+, announced this week, expands a decades-old program that already permits some airports to use contractors to conduct screenings instead of federal TSA officers.
Here’s what to know about TSA Gold+—and how it could impact your air travel moving forward.
Under the program, airports can choose to partner with private security contractors to manage more of their screening operations, including staffing and certain screening technologies, while the TSA continues to oversee compliance with federal safety requirements.
The program builds on the TSA’s existing Screening Partnership Program, under which private companies currently handle passenger and baggage screening at 20 airports nationwide. But while in that model the TSA has maintained operational authority and provided screening equipment, Gold+ would see private partners take on a broader role, including responsibility for managing equipment and introducing new technologies. The agency said it would continue its federal oversight role, however.
“As the next evolution of the Screening Partnership Program (SPP), TSA Gold+ is a transformative upgrade to offer airports the opportunity to ‘opt in’ to a public-private screening model tailored to their unique needs, ensuring continuity and operational stability even during federal government shutdowns,” a TSA spokesperson said in a statement to TIME.
The agency also said the program could bring “the latest technology” to airports, including artificial intelligence tools, to help increase capacity and reduce wait times, though it did not detail how those gains would be achieved.
What airports will participate in the program?
No airports have publicly announced plans to join TSA Gold+ yet.
How will this impact travelers?
For now, travelers are unlikely to see any notable changes resulting from the new program. Security rules remain the same. Identification requirements remain the same. TSA PreCheck and other expedited screening programs—which are separate from TSA Gold+—will continue to operate.
TSA says Gold+ could help reduce wait times and improve consistency by allowing airports to adopt newer technologies, including artificial intelligence tools, more quickly. If funding for the TSA lapses again, as it has in multiple government shutdowns in recent months, the agency has also suggested the program could shield airports from staffing shortages and resulting travel disruptions.
“There is no denying that having a more modernized security program would be ideal for the millions of Americans who fly each day,” Katy Nastro, a travel expert with Going.com, tells TIME. “And there is no denying that our current transportation security program is fragile after the last elongated partial shutdown, which crippled some airport processing times.”
Supporters of TSA Gold+ say the opt-in model is designed to give airports flexibility, allowing them to tailor staffing and screening systems to their size and passenger volume.
Everett Kelley, who leads the American Federation of Government Employees union, which represents TSA agents, told NPR that the plan could result in lower pay for contract screeners compared with federal TSA officers, and raised concerns that the government would be shifting direct control of some of the most sensitive aviation security technology to private companies.
“A main concern around this,” she said, “would be if for-profit companies are providing everything, is their main goal the same as a fully government program, which is for the protection of the traveler?”
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