Long security lines snaked into baggage claim areas and parking garages at some U.S. airports this weekend, a possible indicator of more widespread travel problems as the latest government shutdown drags on.
That kind of disruption, while not yet widespread, is not a concern that typically surfaces at San Francisco International Airport, the largest of nearly two dozen U.S. airports where screening checkpoints are staffed by private contractors under a little-used federal program that allows airports to outsource security screenings while maintaining TSA oversight.
Because contractors’ pay comes from a federal contract, it often continues even when the government shuts down.
They did the one practical thing they could have done after 9/11, which was maintain better security practices on cockpit doors while in flight. Much of the rest is just theater.
I have flow through SFO and other airports with non-TSA security quite a bit, and the contractor’s work is just as thorough as TSA. Don’t tell their bosses, but I have even seen a few smile on occasion. I don’t think we lose anything, security-wise, by privatizing TSA.
I did say “what little” they still prevent by accident. Especially stupid ones or domestic. Take them away and it’s open season for all.
It’s basically a jobs program. Not a very good one, but that’s what the TSA actually accomplishes