TSA Announces Gold+ Program to Workforce and Public

This morning, the Transportation Security Administration sent a broadcast email to every TSA employee announcing the launch of TSA Gold+. A public website went live at tsa.gov/goldplus. Against Giants Labor Advocates has been documenting this program through federal procurement records since August 2025.

What TSA Announced Today

TSA describes Gold+ as a public-private partnership that will redirect federal screening contract funds into private partnerships where industry operators manage both technology and screening workforce. The agency's own website states that private capital will fund staffing, technology, and maintenance at participating airports without waiting on federal budget cycles. TSA will retain regulatory oversight and set outcome-based security standards. The federal officer is not mentioned.

The language TSA chose is worth reading carefully.

TSA states it will set outcome-based security standards. Outcome-based oversight means TSA evaluates results without controlling the process. That is a fundamental reduction in operational control, not a continuation of it.

TSA states that airports receive staffing, technology, and maintenance at no additional cost. If airports pay nothing and TSA's budget is being cut, the funds come from somewhere. The documented record provides the answer. TSA's Capability Acceptance Process allows airports and private companies to purchase screening equipment and donate it directly to TSA. TSA confirmed in its own public reporting that airports donated over $90 million in checkpoint equipment in a single year. The website presents private capital funding as a benefit without identifying it as the funding source.

TSA states that long-term SPP contract funds will be redirected into investable partnerships. That is a significant policy change being described as a financial mechanism. Whether redirecting congressionally appropriated screening funds into private investment vehicles requires congressional authorization is one of the questions TSA has not answered.

What the Record Shows

Against Giants first identified Gold+ through federal procurement records in August 2025. Months later, an official TSA program brief bearing the agency seal and a dedicated government email address was obtained by a TSA officer at a major Florida airport. That brief described Gold+ as a third privatization model under which private capital, technology, and workforce would replace the federal officer at the checkpoint entirely.

What TSA Disclosed to Industry

While Gold+ went unmentioned in congressional testimony, TSA was actively promoting it elsewhere. TSA officials were scheduled to present Gold+ by name at a major aviation industry conference in Chicago. Acting Administrator McNeill discussed it at a private Washington luncheon attended by aviation industry lobbyists and their clients. The private sector was being briefed and prepared. Congress was not.

What McNeill Told Congress

Acting Administrator McNeill testified before Congress four times this fiscal year. Gold+ was not disclosed in any appearance.

What Against Giants Has Done

Against Giants began assembling the Gold+ documentary record in August 2025. In April 2026, Federal News Network published our findings exclusively, becoming the first national media outlet to report on the program.

Since then, Against Giants has briefed congressional offices on both sides of the aisle on the Gold+ non-disclosure record. We have met directly with members and staff of the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and Senate offices with jurisdiction over this matter. We have provided full briefing documentation, supporting primary source records, and draft correspondence to those offices. Against Giants is an independent nonpartisan organization with no affiliation with any federal employee union. Our record is built entirely on primary source documents available in the public record.

Questions That Remain