Lizzy Alspach
Tampa Bay Times
(TNS)

Tampa International Airport is forgetting the “lessons learned” from the Sept. 11 attacks in announcing plans to turn security over to private companies, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor wrote in a letter to airport officials this week.

The airport has opted into a new Transportation Security Administration Gold+ program in July. That program makes a private contractor responsible for providing and maintaining security equipment. It also makes all security workers private employees.

The Transportation Security Administration has not yet announced a contractor for Tampa International. All screenings would still follow the administration’s federal standards.

“This proposal arrives as we approach the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — a painful reminder of what happens when airport security is left to private firms with high turnover and inconsistent training,” Castor, D-Tampa, wrote in her letter.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, airlines hired private companies to run security. That’s different from Gold+, under which the Transportation Security Administration would choose the private company to manage screenings and the workforce.

Some, mostly smaller, airports already have turned to private security under a different federal program.

Twenty of 430 commercial airports nationwide have made the switch. The difference now is that Gold+ also puts screening equipment under the purview of private contractors, not just staffing.

Castor’s letter is addressed to Tampa International Airport CEO Michael Stephens, as well to as Hillsborough County Aviation Authority chairperson Brig. Gen. Chip Diehl. Other authority board members, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen, were copied on the letter.

Mayor Castor, who is not related to the representative, and Diehl did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email or phone. Cohen told the Tampa Bay Times that he and Mayor Castor urged the airport to proceed cautiously with moving to a private company.

The American Federation of Government Employees represents Transportation Security Administration employees nationwide. The union’s local chapter president, Chris Finlay, said he met with Castor and her team before the representative published the letter. He supports her push.

The Transportation Security Administration is housed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Government shutdowns prevent employees from being paid and can slow security screenings — as happened earlier this year across the country.

Thousands of flights were delayed as the Homeland Security Department went unfunded. Transportation security employees went without pay. Some left their jobs or took out loans in the shutdown, which lasted more than 70 days.

Tampa International spokesperson Emily Nipps confirmed Thursday that the airport received Castor’s letter. She referred to an airport webpage and airport Chief Operating Officer John Tiliacos’ remarks at Thursday’s Hillsborough County Aviation Authority meeting in response to a request for comment.

“We cannot be at the whim of what the federal government might or might not do from a funding perspective,” Tiliacos said.

The airport is anticipating another government shutdown this December, according to its website. The U.S. Senate is set to consider a short-term spending bill this week, months before the next fiscal year, to avoid a shutdown during election season.

But it was through these shutdowns, Castor wrote in her letter, that security employees kept screenings moving and didn’t call out of work at Tampa International. She wrote that switching to a private workforce would be a “betrayal of trust and gratitude.”

Castor, like the Transportation Security Administration local and national union, raised concerns about passenger data and security with privatized screening equipment, too.

“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,” she wrote.

Finlay said he also has concerns about the speed with which Tampa International opted into Gold+. He said when other airports went private, such as Orlando-Sanford International, union members had a chance to speak at airport authority meetings and express concerns.

“It all seems very different, very hush-hush,” Finlay told the Times.

Airport officials discussed the Gold+ program at Thursday’s Aviation Authority meeting. The meetings are held on the first Thursday each month and allow public comment.

The opt-in to Gold+ is not a final decision, according to the airport’s webpage. Leaders still are reviewing the draft work and are set to continue evaluating whether the program is the “best fit.”

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