Litigation

Union sues TSA over privatization plan records

AFGE argues TSA is withholding documents about the agency's "secretive push to expand the privatization of airport security screening functions."

Justin Doubleday@jdoubledayWFED

August 6, 2026 5:28 pm

2 min read

The American Federation of Government Employees is suing the Transportation Security Administration to release records about TSA’s new “Gold+” privatization plan, with AFGE arguing the agency has kept Congress and the public “in the dark” about the program’s development.

AFGE filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. The union had filed a FOIA request on May 11 seeking documents pertaining to the Gold+ initiative. But to date, AFGE’s lawsuit says “TSA has yet to provide an estimated date of completion, release any records responsive to, or otherwise make a determination on AFGE’s FOIA request.”

The lawsuit alleges TSA is violating statutory deadlines for responding to FOIA requests and unlawfully withholding agency records.

“These documents will shed light on the agency’s secretive push to expand the privatization of airport security screening functions,” the complaint stats.

The suit comes as TSA advances the Gold+ initiative. The agency has quietly pitched airports and industry on the initiative. TSA calls the initiative “the future of aviation security,” with it involving private companies managing both the screening workforce and technology. It would represent a major evolution and expansion of TSA’s existing private screening program.

Last month, three airports announced they would participate in Gold+ and transition from federal airport screeners to privatized screening operations.

AFGE represents approximately 47,000 TSA transportation security officers under a collective bargaining agreement. In a release, AFGE connected the Gold+ program to the Trump administration’s efforts to disband the TSA collective bargaining agreement. A federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s latest effort to dissolve the agreement in January.

“TSA has been keeping everyone in the dark about its privatization plans – TSA employees, members of Congress, airport authorities, and the flying public,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said as part of a press release. “And it’s little wonder why – this privatization expansion is a major departure from the aviation security system established by Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Changes of this magnitude must not be made in the dark.”