TSA's new 'Gold+' program looks to increase private security screening at airports

Transportation Security Administration officers staff a checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Ill., in this 2010 file photo. The agency was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — but not every U.S. airport uses federal screeners. Scott Olson/ hide caption toggle caption Scott Olson/ WASHINGTON — Federal officers handle security screening at all but a small fraction of U.S. airports, but the Trump administration is hoping to change that. Under the Transportation Security Administration's new program called TSA Gold+, private companies would play a much larger role in airport security than they have in decades. The TSA is set to host officials from airports and security contractors to an "industry day" at its Springfield, Va., headquarters on Thursday , as it looks to develop TSA Gold+, a public-private program that the agency calls "transformative." The agency is billing the program as an update to the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP, in which 20 U.S. airports currently use private security screeners rather than federal workers. "TSA Gold+ marks a significant evolution in the agency's approach to aviation security," a TSA spokesperson told NPR via an emailed statement. The agency says airports that opt into the program would be able to tailor security systems for their facility — and avoid the TSA staffing shortages that became a very public headache at airports during the recent government shutdown over Homeland Security funding . …