Lizzy Alspach
Tampa Bay Times
(TNS)

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.

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 aimed to turn all security workers into private employees and make a private contractor responsible for providing and maintaining security equipment.

Tampa International’s decision came just before the Transportation Security Administration announced in a news release 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.

Airport spokesperson Beau Zimmer said in a phone call that Tampa International doesn’t plan to change its security operations. In a news conference later Monday afternoon, airport Chief Operating Officer John Tiliacos said Tampa International dropped the program last week, before the Transportation Security Administration announced it is discontinuing Gold+.

The two decisions are unrelated, he added.

Tiliacos said that the Transportation Security Administration approached the airport in March about the program, and that the airport looked into it for two reasons. It wanted to avoid delays caused by a government shutdown, and acquire equipment and technology without going through the longer federal process. The airport anticipated another government shutdown this December.

The airport said in Monday’s release that “an extensive review and evaluation over several months” led to its decision to drop Gold+.

“We weren’t quite satisfied that we were getting all the answers to our questions regarding technology,” Tiliacos told reporters. “We always knew when we opted into the program that we could opt out of the program if we felt that it wasn’t a fit for us.”

Since the airport first opted in, local Transportation Security Administration union leaders, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor cautioned the airport against joining the program.

“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 the airport and Hillsborough County Aviation Authority officials earlier this month.

She and the local American Federation of Government Employees union leaders said they thought the program would forget “lessons learned” from the Sept. 11 attacks 25 years ago.

Before then, airlines hired private companies to run security. That’s different from Gold+, where the Transportation Security Administration would instead vet and choose the private company to manage screenings and the workforce.

Tiliacos said opting in gave the airport a chance to “explore the program,” and nothing changed operationally. If there is another government shutdown, Tiliacos said, the Aviation Authority will support employees as it has in previous shutdowns.

Chris Finlay, the local security administration union president, told the Tampa Bay Times that he takes the airport’s decision as a victory. More than 700 security employees work at the airport.

“A lot of people had a lot of weight lifted off their shoulders this morning,” Finlay said. “I think that’s very telling.”

Finlay said there were security employees who looked to transfer airports after the news that the airport would opt into the program. He, along with other union leaders, met with local officials ahead of Monday’s announcement.

In a phone call Monday afternoon, Cohen praised the airport’s decision to drop the program.

“It’s a good result for our workforce and a good result for our flying public,” said Cohen, who also serves on the Aviation Authority.

The Transportation Security Administration formally announced the Gold+ program in May, just more than a week after the federal government exited a partial shutdown. The shutdown lasted more than 70 days and mainly affected the Department of Homeland Security, where the security administration is housed.

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.

The airport is open to exploring new technology that the security administration brings forward, Tiliacos added, “if it means a better, more efficient, quicker throughput for our passengers at the checkpoint.”

The Transportation Security Administration said Monday it is launching an “evolved Screening Partnership Program,” called the “Horizon 25 Strategy,” in honor of the agency’s 25th anniversary. The agency’s news release doesn’t describe how the strategy is different from the previous privatization effort.

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