Long security lines snaked into baggage claim areas and parking garages at some U.S. airports this weekend, a possible indicator of more widespread travel problems as the latest government shutdown drags on.

That kind of disruption, while not yet widespread, is not a concern that typically surfaces at San Francisco International Airport, the largest of nearly two dozen U.S. airports where screening checkpoints are staffed by private contractors under a little-used federal program that allows airports to outsource security screenings while maintaining TSA oversight.

Because contractors’ pay comes from a federal contract, it often continues even when the government shuts down.

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[+] -13 points 6 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago* (2 children)

    They did the one practical thing they could have done after 9/11, which was maintain better security practices on cockpit doors while in flight. Much of the rest is just theater.

    I have flow through SFO and other airports with non-TSA security quite a bit, and the contractor's work is just as thorough as TSA. Don't tell their bosses, but I have even seen a few smile on occasion. I don't think we lose anything, security-wise, by privatizing TSA.

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