The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Monday it will phase out the Gold+ private airport screening program, a recently launched initiative that allowed airports to hire private contractors for security operations. Instead, the agency will transition to an "optimized" version of its existing Screening Partnership Program (SPP). The change was introduced as part of the agency's Horizon 25 Strategy, which focuses on checkpoint modernization and transportation security.
The Gold+ program, introduced earlier this year, permitted private firms to tailor security measures for individual airports while meeting federal standards. Under that model, vendors were required to provide their own screening equipment. The move to end the program follows a recent announcement by Tampa International Airport, which elected to keep its screening operations exclusively under federal control after a review of the Gold+ partnership model.
The existing SPP currently operates at 20 airports, including San Francisco International, Kansas City International, and Orlando Sanford International. Unlike the Gold+ model, private vendors in the SPP must use TSA-provided equipment, and the agency’s federal security director remains in charge of security, incident management, and stakeholder relations. TSA Administrator David Cummins, confirmed by the Senate last month, stated the agency is working to modernize the aviation system through this transition.
The scale of the program's impact is significant due to recent labor and staffing challenges at the agency. During a 76-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown this past winter and spring, and a prior record-long shutdown, more than 1,000 TSA officers left the force. These staffing shortages led to increased security wait times for millions of passengers across the country. The decision to phase out Gold+ maintains the current federal-oversight model rather than shifting toward a system that the AFGE president called a "major departure" from the security framework established 25 years ago.
What happens next: The TSA will move forward with its Horizon 25 Strategy to modernize checkpoints. While the agency announced the phase-out on Monday, specific dates for when individual airport contracts or transition plans will be completed were not reported. The AFGE lawsuit regarding the disclosure of program records remains active, and the agency has not yet specified how the "evolved" Screening Partnership Program will change specific day-to-day operations at the 20 participating airports beyond the continued use of federal equipment and oversight.