Top 20+ airports don’t use TSA officers at security checkpoints. How is the shutdown affecting their lines?

(NEXSTAR) – TSA lines don’t seem to be much of a problem at airports that technically don’t use TSA officers.

The ongoing partial government shutdown, which affects the Department of Homeland Security, has resulted in longer-than-average wait times at security checkpoints operated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), whose officers will not be paid until the shutdown has ended.

The TSA says the issue has prompted hundreds of officers to quit and others to call out sick, leaving fewer staff to screen passengers. The issue has resulted in growing lines or even chaotic scenes at TSA checkpoints, according to travelers.

“Lines were insane. Very disorganized,” one traveler passing through JFK said Sunday morning. “Nobody knew where the start of the line was and people started to push into the lines everywhere.”

Travelers navigate their way through the TSA screening process lines at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana, near New Orleans, on March 23, 2026. (David Grunfeld/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

The shutdown has reportedly affected checkpoints at numerous major air hubs where TSA officers are currently employed. But the situation doesn’t appear so grim at a handful of airports where screening duties have been subcontracted to private security companies.

“We remain fully staffed at all the airports we manage,” a representative for VMD Corp,, which handles the security at several U.S. airports including Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and the Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), said.

The representative told Nexstar that while VMD operates “under the direction of TSA,” its screening facilities at ACY, MCI, SFB and others “are not impacted” by the shutdown.

“We continue to pay our employees and operate business as usual,” the rep said. (VMD confirmed, however, that the TSA is “not currently paying” the company’s invoices amid the ongoing shutdown.)

VMD Corp. is far from the only private security firm handling traditional TSA duties at U.S. airports. The TSA, through its Screening Partnership Program (SPP), currently subcontracts its traveler screenings to private firms at 20 airports, the largest of which are San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Kansas City International Airport. A full list is below:

  • Atlantic City International Airport (New Jersey)
  • Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (California)
  • Dawson Community Airport (Montana)
  • Great Falls International Airport (Montana)
  • Glacier Park International Airport (Montana)
  • Greater Rochester International Airport (New York)
  • Havre City-County Airport (Montana)
  • Kansas City International Airport (Missouri)
  • L. M. Clayton Airport (Montana)
  • Orlando Sanford International Airport (Florida)
  • Portsmouth International Airport (New Hampshire)
  • Punta Gorda Airport (Florida)
  • Roswell International Air Center (New Mexico)
  • San Francisco International Airport (California)
  • Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (Florida)
  • Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (Montana)
  • Sioux Falls Regional Airport (South Dakota)
  • Tupelo Regional Airport (Mississippi)
  • Wokal Field/Glasgow International Airport (Montana)
  • Yellowstone Airport (Montana)

Companies contracted to provide screening services at SPP airports are required to comply with “all TSA security screening procedures” and are monitored by the agency, according to the TSA. Another VMD representative, in a statement to Nexstar, also claimed the security firm is “held to identical and in many cases more stringent security and wait time requirements/standards as TSA.”

“This is a TSA program,” the VMD spokesperson said.

It’s unclear if every airport checkpoint operated under the Screening Partnership Program is seeing fewer hiccups than their TSA-operated counterparts, though that appears to be the case anecdotally, according to flyers in Florida and California.

“While all security procedures are managed and supervised by TSA staff, the screeners themselves are employed by a private company called Covenant Aviation Security and paid through a different funding source which is not impacted by the current partial Federal Government shut down,” reads a statement included with the alert.

The TSA was not immediately available to comment on its Screening Partnership Program.

An agent with Covenant Aviation Security (CAS), a private security firm contracted by the TSA, checks the ID of a passenger at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 27, 2026. Notice the “CAS” on the agent’s shoulder. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Hundreds of thousands of workers for the Department of Homeland Security, including those with the TSA, have been working without pay during the partial shutdown. TSA officers missed their first full paycheck Friday, March 13.

The shutdown began on Feb. 14, after Congress failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the DHS through September. Democrats had refused to agree to a funding deal over objections to the DHS’ immigration enforcement tactics, especially after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Democrats are seeking several changes to DHS policies, including prohibiting ICE enforcement operations at sensitive locations like schools and churches, allowing independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, requiring warrants to be signed by judges before federal agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent, and requiring agents to wear identification and remove their masks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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