After about a month of backlash from local officials, Tampa International Airport announced Monday that it backed out of a now discontinued federal program to privatize security.<\/p>\n
In July, the airport became one of the first in the country to opt into the Transportation Security Administration’s new Gold+ program. The program turned all security workers intoprivate employeesandmade a private contractor responsible for providing and maintaining security equipment.<\/p>\n
Tampa International’s decision came asthe Transportation Security Administration announced in a news release<\/a> Monday that it is discontinuing Gold+. The federal agency instead will “modernize TSA’s checkpoints, elevate the traveler experience, and harden multi-modal transportation security” in another named initiative.<\/p>\n Airport spokesperson Beau Zimmer said in a phone call that Tampa International doesn’t plan to changeits current security operations.<\/p>\n Monday’s announcement from Tampa Internationalcomes after pressure from local TransportationSecurity Administration union leaders, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor<\/a>, Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. They allcautioned the airport againstjoining the program.<\/p>\n “There is no need to risk taxpayer dollars or passenger data by handing over control to a private contractor whose primary motivation is profit, not public safety,” U.S. Rep. Castor wrote in a letter to theairport and Hillsborough County Aviation Authority officials earlier this month.<\/p>\n She and thelocal American Federation of Government Employees union leaders said they thought the program would forget “lessons learned” from the Sept. 11 attacks 25 years later.<\/p>\n Before then, airlines hired private companies to run security<\/a>. That’s different from Gold+, where the Transportation Security Administration would instead vet and choose the private company to manage screenings and the workforce.<\/p>\n Chris Finlay, the local security administration union president, told the Tampa Bay Times that he takes the airport’s decision as a victory.<\/p>\n “A lot of people had a lot of weight lifted off their shoulders this morning,” Finlay said. “I think that’s very telling.”<\/p>\n Finlay said there were security employees who looked to transfer airports after the news. He, along with other union leaders, met with local officials ahead of Monday’s decision to advocate against the program.<\/p>\n In a phone call Monday afternoon, Hillsborough Commissioner Harry Cohen said praised the airport’s decision to drop the program.<\/p>\n “It’s a good result for our workforce and a good result for our flying public,” Cohen said.<\/p>\n In Monday’s news release, the airport said it conducted “an extensive review and evaluation over several months,” which let to its decision to drop Gold+.<\/p>\n Airport officials previously said the new program would allow them to continue security screeningsin the event of another federal government shutdown. The airport anticipated another government shutdown<\/a> this December.<\/p>\n “We have worked closely with our TSA team through record passenger growth, severe weather, federal funding disruptions and peak travel periods,” airport CEO Michael Stephens said in the release. “We value their professionalism and commitment to security and service, and look forward to continuing our strong partnership.”<\/p>\n The Transportation Security Administration announced the Gold+ program in May<\/a>, just more than a week after the federal government exited a partial shutdown. The shutdown lasted 76 days and mainly affected the Department of Homeland Security, where the security administration is housed.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has pushed for airports to privatize security after this year’s government shutdown. Flights were delayed nationwide as federal security employees went without pay.<\/p>\n Gold+ differed from another security privatization program that startedmore than 20 years ago. The Screening Partnership Program started in 2004 and only privatizes the workforce.<\/p>\n