Even then, lawmakers allowed TSA in 2004 to hire private screeners that are almost indistinguishable from federal officers in San Francisco; Kansas City, Mo.; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Tupelo, Miss.
Another 12 airports have joined the program since then. The additions range from seven small airports in Montana to a heliport in New York City. Other participants are in Sonoma County, Calif.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Roswell, N.M.; and Key West.
Check it out? 12 more airports have signed on to the program to choose a private company over a government option. lol This is turning out to be a Fedex/UPS versus the Postal Service scenario.
Now my personal opinion on this is that the TSA might not care to manage this process as well as they should, just because these private companies are the competition. The TSA also has a union breathing down their neck about protecting government employees and their benefits. So there is a definite conflict of interest here, if the TSA is involved with managing this program.
Still, the main benefit here is that these airports will have the ability to fire poor security companies. That, and competition between security companies all fighting to get that contract, is what will give an airport an excellent value and the service they demand. (as long as they choose a company based on best value, and not LPTA). They do not have that luxury with the government and John Stossel pointed this out beautifully in his articles about the private versus public debate.
The other thing is that this debate has been going on for awhile now. So every year around the holidays, everyone experiences the screening process at the airports, and they all direct their frustrations at the TSA. So I imagine that politicians are hearing this frustration from their constituents, and acting accordingly. –Matt
Push on to expand private TSA baggage screeners
By Bart Jansen
11/30/2011
As complaints swirl around the Transportation Security Administration, some airports and lawmakers want to hire private baggage screeners under a program the TSA administrator is reluctant to expand.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., wants more airports to join the little-known TSA program that hires private screeners — rather than government workers — at 17 airports so far.
“Frankly, competition is a good thing in almost all places,” Blunt says.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican candidate for president, said in a CNN debate Nov. 22 that he would privatize TSA security “as soon as I could. … It makes abundant good sense.”