Senate Advances New TSA Head as Trump Supports Private Screening via David Cummins

The Senate advanced David Cummins to lead the Transportation Security Administration on July 30 as President Donald Trump pressed Congress and smaller airports toward private airport security screening. A final Senate vote is scheduled for next week.

Cummins, a senior vice president of Serco, cleared the latest step after the Senate committee handling his nomination voted 15-13 along party lines on July 22. The nomination now moves toward a confirmation vote during the first week of August 2026.

The timing places a new administrator nominee alongside the administration's proposal to cut more than 9,400 TSA workers and just over $1.5 billion, or about 20%, from the agency's annual budget. The plan would also require smaller airports to use private security, reducing the TSA payroll by more than 4,500 jobs.

The proposal reaches beyond the existing Screening Partnership Program. The administration's TSA Gold+ initiative would allow airports to hire private companies to conduct passenger screening and, in some cases, manage the technology used for that work.

Cummins enters the job debate with a promise to support employees

Cummins faced Democratic questioning during a July 16 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Lawmakers focused on his lack of government experience and his background at Serco, a government services contractor.

He described the privatization effort as “pro-worker” and said his first priority would be meeting employees at airports.

“My first task, if confirmed, would be to visit airports and reassure employees that I would do everything in my power to protect and support them in the future.”

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who chaired the hearing, backed greater efficiency and modernization. Cruz attributed the agency's morale problems to previous government shutdowns rather than to the proposed move toward private screening.

More than 1,100 TSA employees resigned between February and May 2026 after a record-long 76-day partial government shutdown earlier in the year. Officers worked without pay during the shutdown.

Gold+ gives airports a wider role than the older contractor model

Tampa International Airport, Charleston International Airport and Des Moines International Airport became the first airports to opt into Gold+. Their participation creates three early tests for a model that could give private firms responsibility for staffing, equipment and technology decisions.

The planned transition dates are spread across the first half of 2027:

Tampa separately set May 2027 as its target date. The administration's proposal would make private screening mandatory for smaller airports, removing the voluntary nature of the current arrangement.

The existing program covers only 21-22 of roughly 440 commercial airports. Gold+ would expand the role of contractors by allowing them to manage, procure and upgrade equipment such as X-ray machines and explosive detection systems.

That distinction has drawn the sharpest union criticism. AFGE, the federal employees' union, said the administration is seeking to “ultimately privatize all aviation security screening functions.”

Everett Kelley, AFGE's national president, said Gold+ would move the country away from the system Congress created after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

“Make no mistake – this is a major departure and step backwards from the aviation screening security system that Congress created in the wake of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.”

The union also warned that private contractors could control both screening operations and sensitive screening technology. That would shift acquisition and maintenance responsibilities previously reserved for the federal government.

Democrats warn against splitting one federal security system

Senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, argued that a single federal force provides consistency as the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches. He opposed giving private vendors responsibility for acquiring and maintaining critical screening systems.

“A fragmented, privatized and inconsistent aviation security framework was a vulnerability we could no longer afford. delegating these critical acquisition and maintenance roles to private vendors under the new TSA Gold+ program makes no sense.”

Supporters of privatization, including the libertarian Cato Institute, say the approach could resemble European systems in which 80% of airports are private. Critics counter that companies facing pressure to reduce labor costs could weaken security standards.

The debate therefore involves more than who checks passengers at the checkpoint. It also concerns who buys, maintains and upgrades the equipment used to identify prohibited items.

Budget cuts would reshape airports beyond the first three participants

Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget proposal seeks to remove $1.5 billion from the TSA budget, approximately 20% of annual funding. It also calls for eliminating more than 9,400 TSA personnel jobs.

More than 4,500 of those positions would be tied to the proposal requiring smaller airports to shift to private screening. The remaining workforce reduction would come through the broader budget and staffing plan.

Airport authorities could lose the ability to choose whether to join the private model. Under the proposed requirement, smaller airports would instead adopt private security as part of the federal budget plan.

Travelers would encounter private personnel at some participating checkpoints, while the equipment and operating arrangements could vary by airport. Critics say that variation could produce inconsistent practices across the national system.

A separate passenger-data agreement adds another layer to the debate

A July 28 report by American Oversight identified a previously undisclosed data-sharing agreement between the TSA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agreement was signed in May 2025.

The disclosure prompted concerns that passenger screening information could also support immigration enforcement. It adds a separate question about how airport security operations use passenger information as the agency considers a larger private role.

The administration's plan has therefore placed staffing, technology and data practices in the same national argument. Cummins would inherit those disputes if the full Senate confirms him.

The Senate's July 30 action did not complete that process. Lawmakers set the final vote for next week, while Tampa, Charleston and Des Moines are preparing for transitions beginning in January 2027.