# Airport screening: is the involvement of the TSA mandatory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096 "2006-09-25T17:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/1 "2006-09-25T17:56:31Z")
I’m curious as to how the TSA, a government agency, operates in privately-owned airports. Do the airports pay the TSA? Is it a free government service? What if the airport thinks the TSA is doing a terrible job, and wants to perform their own screening? And what happened to the companies who, I assume, did the screening before 9/11? Similarly, what if an airport thinks all the security is unecessary, and tells them to get lost. Is screening by the TSA legally required for airplanes greater than a certain size? Let’s say I’ve got a pile of cash, and I decide to start an airline. I buy a bunch of Boeing 777s, and build brand-new airports on privately-owned lands. If I try to fly my own airplanes out of my privately-owned airports without screening the passengers first, who’s going to stop me? Assume everything else is legal and an in order - permits, pilot’s licenses, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/2 "2006-09-25T18:44:16Z")
[http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1104/111704c1.htm](http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1104/111704c1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/3 "2006-09-25T19:04:53Z")
> [@](#): > > TSA manages a workforce of about 45,000 federal screeners at about 445 airports across the country, excluding five that were allowed to have contract screeners under a pilot program approved by Congress. Those airports are in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Kansas City, Mo., Rochester, N.Y., San Francisco, Calif., and Tupelo, Miss. Okay - how were those 445 airports chosen? On what legal basis did the government force them to allow the TSA to screen their passengers? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/4 "2006-09-25T19:06:58Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] Similarly, what if an airport thinks all the security is unecessary, and tells them to get lost. Is screening by the TSA legally required for airplanes greater than a certain size? [/QUOTE] The TSA is charged with making the transportation networks safe, and if those planes intend to go airborne, then the passengers fall under their jurisdiction. Ownership of the airport (or plane) doesn’t matter. As diggleblop’s link illustrates, passenger screening doesn’t need to be done by the TSA per se, but they still have jurisdiction. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/5 "2006-09-25T21:04:50Z")
Very little about an airport is private. I’m wondering what private airports the OP is referring to that have TSA screeners. [http://www.airlines.org/news/d.aspx?nid=10028](http://www.airlines.org/news/d.aspx?nid=10028) > [@](#): > > Q: Who owns airports? > A: All U.S. commercial service airports are owned by local governments or state governments, either directly or through an authority, a quasi-governmental body established to operate the airport. Read the rest of that Q and A as well. All the airlines are regulated by the government, the air traffic controllers are government employees, the air space is regulated by the government. The government can set any rules and regulations it wishes and all commercial airlines and airports have to follow them to the last paragraph. You can’t build a private airport and fly your planes in the U.S. Commercial airports are government facilities. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/6 "2006-09-25T21:07:13Z")
Note to nitpickers. Small private airports for privately owned planes obviously exist. They are also regulated by the government but are operated somewhat differently from commercial airports. The OP was, to me, obviously referring to commercial airports and I answered it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airport-screening-is-the-involvement-of-the-tsa-mandatory/374096/7 "2006-09-25T21:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] All the airlines are regulated by the government, the air traffic controllers are government employees, the air space is regulated by the government. The government can set any rules and regulations it wishes and all commercial airlines and airports have to follow them to the last paragraph. You can’t build a private airport and fly your planes in the U.S. Commercial airports are government facilities. Period. [/QUOTE] Okay, that answers my question. I always assumed that at least some major airports were privately owned.