KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you've traveled by plane, you can probably picture this scene: Passengers line up to present their IDs to an airport officer, put their carry-on luggage on a conveyor belt and walk through a scanner.
But one detail at Kansas City International Airport is a bit unique. The uniformed officers who scan IDs and screen carry-on bags wear badges and U.S. flag patches, but they're not Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers — they're private contractors. It's a distinction many passengers don't seem to notice.
"It's news to me," said Natasha Greenway, holding the handle of her son's stroller before catching a flight to Philadelphia.
"I didn't even notice," says Kim Eckels, who was traveling to Portland, Ore., with her family. With a laugh, she added, "I taught my kids not to question anything going through security. Just keep your mouth shut and go."
That attitude is shared by many travelers, who can be forgiven for not realizing that the officers politely but firmly guiding them through the screening process work not for the government but for VMD Corp., based in McLean, Virginia. As more airports consider going private rather than using federal officers, companies like VMD are eager to show they can keep passengers safe — and satisfy the TSA's oversight and standards.
"We do have TSA" at the airport, noted Gabe Murphy, VMD's program manager at Kansas City International.
Private employees are responsible for everything from checking IDs to screening passengers and baggage. But Murphy said the TSA also has a security team there whose job is to "basically audit us and make sure that we're following all the processes and procedures that are outlined by TSA."
Using the acronym for standard operating procedure, he added: "Their SOP is our SOP."
Why are some commercial airports using private security?
The federal-private divide dates to the creation of the TSA in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the process, the government gave airports a choice of staffing checkpoints with federal security officers or opting out, using private firms under the Screening Partnership Program (SPP).
Nearly 25 years later, the TSA screens passengers and bags in most U.S. airports. The largest holdouts are Kansas City and San Francisco International Airport. Other SPP airports are scattered around the United States, from Sarasota, Fla., and Atlantic City, N.J., to Tupelo, Miss., and Yellowstone, Montana.
But more airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, are considering going private. Changes like that would bring a major shift, said Tina Won Sherman, director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Homeland Security and Justice team. She said that the SPP hit a plateau years ago.
"It's really remained a small number: 20 privatized airports, where there are currently 440 federalized airports across the country," Sherman said.
The Trump administration wants to boost private involvement. It rolled out a new version of the SPP called TSA Gold+ last month, saying it will announce the first airports joining the program later this year. The administration has said privatizing airports would save tens of millions of dollars, prompting pushback from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, which warns that the plan would undermine federal officers.
The federal law that created the Transportation Security Administration requires that private contracting companies pay their employees at least as well as commensurate federal workers. TSA officers have long struggled with some of the lowest wages in the federal workforce, but that situation improved markedly in 2023, thanks to an omnibus budget bill. Officers also benefited from the TSA's collective bargaining agreement with the AFGE union in 2024, but the Trump administration has sought to revoke that contract.
Sherman notes that details of how Gold+ would work are still emerging. But, she added, if dozens of small- and medium-sized airports join, it would raise questions about how the TSA handles oversight of everything from technology standards to screeners' efficiency, at a much larger scale. They are questions she'll be watching closely for answers.
"It's critical, absolutely critical, for TSA to make sure that security is upheld at the highest standard that it can be," Sherman said.
What do passengers say?
On a recent Tuesday, an informal survey of passengers in the Kansas City airport found that like many Americans, most weren't aware the SPP program existed until the recent partial government shutdown triggered long lines at federally run airports, while private facilities ran more smoothly.
Just inside a security checkpoint, Eric Sauter sat down for a haircut in a shop next to a shoeshine stand. He lives in San Diego but travels about 150 days a year for business, including frequent visits to Kansas City. As a barber buzzed around his head, Sauter said he didn't realize this airport uses private security until he visited in early spring.
"Everyone was really worried about the travel in and out," Sauter said. "I experienced no issues. And I did learn through reading in the news after the trip that they have the private TSA agents here."
One of the few obvious differences between TSA and VMD officers is that the private company's workers wear shirts that are gray, not the TSA's deep blue — the color the comedian Julio Torres famously associates with airports, as well as law and order. But most people NPR spoke to said they didn't notice the difference.
Inside the large atrium at the Kansas City airport, Carissa Brownlee said that she got through the line quickly and that she was more focused on making her flight than noticing the officers' uniforms.
"I think as long as the agents are friendly and kind and not in a bad mood, everything goes smoother," Brownlee said.
Contractors integrate with government agencies
The Kansas City airport's security installation is similar to what's found in dozens of U.S. airports, although some equipment was upgraded recently to avoid snags as the city braced for World Cup travelers.
There's a new scanning system, for instance, that lets people keep their arms at their waists as they pause between two white panels, rather than the more complicated spinning scanner used in many airports.
"They're much quicker and much more efficient, which will be nice here in a few weeks when we really start to see heavier throughputs," VMD's Murphy said.
After moving through the main checkpoint, passengers pass a desk staffed by local police officers.
"It's a city requirement," Murphy said. "If there is an unruly passenger or upset passenger or if there's a loaded firearm or a prohibited item that we identify," an officer can handle the situation immediately rather than coming from another terminal.
Once inside the terminal, travelers might encounter police and TSA K-9 units, which often stop to let passing families and children visit with the dogs. In the bowels of the airport, multiple levels of VMD employees analyze checked bags and suitcases for potential red-flag items at computer terminals. If necessary, they do so by hand.
During NPR's visit, about 10 new VMD employees had just begun their training.
"It's probably altogether about two months of training — more, depending on their skill level," for new employees, according to Kim Fisher, the airport's head security-training instructor.
"This caught my eye because I've always had interest in security," said new hire Jada Price, 19. When asked whether she plans to be working at the airport for decades to come, she doesn't hesitate: "I 100% plan to be, yes."
Four of the new hires said they moved to Kansas City for the opportunity. Part of the reason, they said, was the promise of job stability.
That point was repeatedly brought up at a recent congressional hearing on modernizing the TSA. Industry veterans said airport security officers must be paid to do a critical job, whether Congress can agree on a budget or not.
Sherman, of the Government Accountability Office, said fair and stable wages are key to sustaining morale and letting officers focus on important work.
"You're relying on these individuals to make sure that whether you're in Washington, D.C., or you're in Kansas City or anywhere else across the country, that you're receiving the same level of security," she said. "And that the individual that's providing it is doing that to the best of their ability."
As security officers and airports prepare for potential changes from the privatization push, a different change is looming for VMD. The company's $803 million proposal to handle security at San Francisco International Airport was recently accepted, a decision that was affirmed by the Government Accountability Office.
As part of the transition, Fisher, who also heads training programs at more than a dozen VMD-operated airports, was heading to San Francisco to work with existing employees there.
"It's going to be business as usual for us," she said, "just on a bigger scale."
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