Why some US airports are replacing TSA agents with private screeners

Welcome back to Good Day Chicago. Three U.S. airports are switching up how they do airport security. They're all ditching federal TSA agents for private screeners. I'm talking about Tampa, Des Moines, and Charleston International Airports. They hope it reduces disruptions during government shutdowns. We're talking with Joseph Schwederman. He's the president of Chicago's Transportation Research Forum and professor at DePaul University. Good morning to you, professor. Great to be here. So let's start with this. Firstly, how different are these private security screeners from TSA agents? And will travelers notice much of a difference? Well, hard to say if we're going to notice a difference in terms of the attitude, the courtesy, and so forth. I think, though, this is a big story. I think air travels bounce back. We haven't had terrible TSA lines in the last few months. But three airports are saying, we're going to go alone here. The federal law gives you the provision, if you're trained by TSA, if you have TSA oversight, to have private security screeners, in a way of what it was many years ago. But they'll be stepped up to be much like TSA. And I think the straw that broke the camel's back with these airports was just all these government shutdowns. And there's so much drama. Will TSA agents come to work? Will they be motivated? Will they have delays? So it's going to be a big change. Talk about this, because I think the number one thing that may top of mind for people may be actual security, right? We know TSA has come out and said, when it comes to this type of situation, that they are more trained, that they get more training. What will be the difference between a TSA agent versus these private screeners? Are they actually trained the same way? Yeah, that's gonna be a real interesting question. Because nominally, at least, or legally, they're gonna do things exactly the same. They will be held to the same standards as the TSA. I think the wrinkle here is, a lot of studies have shown the TSA screening process isn't quite as safe as maybe people think. So the Government Accountability Office has done tests, have tried to get guns through, and so forth. And sometimes they succeeded. And people pointed that, saying, the security may not be as good as we think. On the other hand, we know it's steady across airports. We know that there's been no corruption. There's been no, in effect, big breaches that led to, of course, terrorism accidents. So any error there is gonna be just really a tough call. I do think, though, that private sector workers are likely to be maybe even a little more motivated than the TSA. It's a tough job doing the same thing over and over, day after day. Yeah, I just wonder if this will have a ripple effect in the industry, where we could potentially see, A, other airports start to follow suit. And then that would mean TSA agents wouldn't be as more of a necessity, right? The jobs, would they still be there? Exactly, you know, Tampa is a big airport. So that's gonna be a real test to see if they can ramp up to have such a huge operation there. And we do know that airports are trying to make the process more friendly. So one of the airports is gonna have something called TSA Gold, where you have a special process, a little bit like TSA Pre. And I think what we're hoping is that we can test and see which one gives us the best safety, which one's the best customer service. Cuz it's never a good idea to have one organization, in fact, have a monopoly, or monopsony, economists would say, on supplying all that service. They have a little bit of a competition there. And I'd say the TSA has performed well, but we have seen when things go bad, they can really go bad with those hour-long waits and the like. Yeah, it's interesting you bring up PreCheck, I hadn't thought about that. But obviously, this does impact PreCheck, at least those airports. Professor Schwederman, thank you so much for your time today on Good Day Chicago. Thanks again. All right, have a good weekend.