2025 has been a year of change—and a busy one—for the Transportation Security Administration, or the TSA, as the federal agency is better-known to bleary-eyed air travelers. 

The young agency, which was created in the direct aftermath of the airplane-hijacking 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, has drastically changed the way American airports handle security screenings over the past several decades. 

Now in its 25th year, the TSA continues to man the front lines of airport security, but a number of changes, including the highly celebrated abandonment of the agency’s longstanding “shoes-off-during-screenings” policy, have occurred in 2025.Here, we go over this year’s TSA news in chronological order. 

Quick facts about the TSA

What is the TSA? A brief history of the young Federal agency

The Transportation Administration agency, launched in 2001 to bolster airport security processes in response to the deadly September 11 attacks, in which hijackers took control of four domestic flights, crashing two into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon in Virginia. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers struggled with hijackers to prevent an attack on a populated target. 

When it was established, the TSA was an agency of the Department of Transportation. In March 2003, it was transferred to the purview of the Department of Homeland Security. During 2002, its first full year of operation, the newly established TSA screened a reported 1.7 million applicants to fill 55,000 Transportation Security Officer positions. 

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Since its inception, the TSA (and, at a few airports, private contractors approved by the TSA) has been responsible for screening all travelers at U.S. airports to prevent unauthorized weapons and other contraband from reaching flight decks. Screening processes include ID verification, X-ray and CT luggage scans, and millimeter-wave body scans for travelers. 

Sixteen official or interim/acting administrators have helmed the TSA since its creation in 2001. Ha Nguyen McNeill has been the acting TSA administrator since April 2005.

A timeline of TSA changes & announcements in 2025

January 13, 2025: The TSA announces that it will begin enforcing Real ID requirements beginning May 7, 2025. Real IDs are state-issued driver’s licenses or ID cards that meet new federal security standards for interstate air travel within the US. Other forms of identification that meet these standards include passports, passport cards, military IDs, and permanent resident cards. 

March 7, 2025: The Trump administration strips TSA agents of their collective bargaining rights through the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union that transportation security officers voted to join in 2011. 

Defending the controversial move, a DHS spokesperson stated, “Transportation Security Officers will no longer lose their hard-earned dollars to a union that does not represent them. The Trump Administration is committed to returning to merit-based hiring and firing policies.” AFGE president Everett Kelley responded, criticizing Secretary Noem’s actions as “merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union.”

March 27, 2025: Two Republican Senators, Tommy Tuberville (AL) and Mike Lee (UT), introduce a bill to abolish the TSA as an arm of the government’s Department of Homeland Security. This bill, if passed, would result in the privatization of airport security while maintaining some degree of federal oversight. According to the bill’s authors, the change would allow “America’s airports to compete to provide the safest, most efficient, and least intrusive security measures.”

On May 7, the TSA began enforcing Real ID requirements, although passengers without Real IDs were typically still allowed to fly after additional screening.

Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

May 7, 2025: RealID enforcement begins. Travelers can no longer pass through security for domestic flights by providing a typical driver’s license. Only an enhanced license (AKA a RealID) or passport may be used. 

Enforcement of this rule varies between airports, but most travelers who arrive without a Real ID or passport are still eventually allowed to pass through security checkpoints and make their flights after additional screening. 

May 8th, 2025: The Traveler Privacy Protection Act is introduced, aiming to protect travelers who wish to opt out of AI-based facial scanning and recognition technology from discrimination, intimidation, and differential treatment, as well as require the TSA to more effectively communicate that the ability to opt out is available. 

According to the TSA, the photos taken at checkpoints “are not stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made, except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology.” Advocates of facial scanning point out that the tech can decrease security wait times. Nevertheless, critics have raised serious privacy concerns about the technology and highlighted its potential for misuse. 

July 7, 2025: TSA agents begin allowing travelers to keep their shoes on during security screenings. The shoe-removal protocol had been in place since 2006, and only TSA PreCheck members were previously exempt from the process. 

July 18, 2025: The DHS and TSA announce the introduction of a new “Families on the Fly” campaign, focused on making air travel more hospitable for those traveling with children. The primary goal of the program is to introduce “dedicated family lanes” at airports and offer discounted TSA PreCheck memberships to families. 

The first two airports to see family lanes are Orlando International (MCO) in Florida and Charlotte-Douglas International (CLT) in North Carolina. 

While facial scan proponents say the process speeds up security lines, detractors point to potential privacy concerns.

Photo by EvgeniyShkolenko on Getty Images

July 21, 2025: The Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), an AI watchdog and consumer advocacy organization, releases the “Comply to Fly” report, which summarizes the results of a survey the org conducted about the TSA’s use of controversial, AI-powered facial scans for ID verification. 

The TSA’s website states that the agency “is currently updating CAT-2 screens with clear language that notifies travelers they may decline having their photo taken. TSA also has signage posted at the checkpoint indicating that the technology is optional and travelers may decline having their photo taken. Travelers under 18 are not photographed.” However, the AJL’s report (based on 420 respondents) reveals that traveler experiences do not support these assurances. Takeaways include: 

• 55.5% of respondents claimed they did not see postage signage about their right to opt out of facial recognition technology
• 74% had not received communications informing them about the facial recognition program at the airport.
• 48% had one or more privacy concerns about the program’s data-handling protocols.
• 47.7% said they did not know they could opt out of having their face scanned.
• 20.1% reported they “did not feel comfortable requesting to opt out, fearing consequences.”

One respondent quoted in the report even said that when they attempted to opt out of the facial scan, the agent processing them became “visibly angry with me. Sent me to a different agent because he didn’t have the right tool. That agent didn’t have the right tool either and sent me back to the first agent. I was told I had to wait for them to fetch the right tool, which took approx. 10 min. Was treated with extreme rudeness the entire time.”

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July 25, 2025: The TSA announces that it is seeking private-sector assistance “for the development and deployment of turnkey solutions for use at airport security checkpoints.” In other words, the agency invites private companies to submit proposals for improvements to current TSA security screening protocols and technologies. According to TheStreet’s Christy Rakoczy, this press release could indicate that the federal agency may be hoping to replace some of its security staff with staff from private contractors. 

July 25, 2025: The TSA issues a warning to travelers interested in signing up for TSA PreCheck—a paid program that frequent flyers can sign up for to expedite their airport security process—to watch out for scam signup sites designed to steal personal information. The agency’s post reads, “Signing up for TSA PreCheck? Make sure you’re using a safe and trusted .gov website.”

August 8, 2025: The TSA posts on Facebook to remind fliers that any CBD product with more than 0.3% THC is illegal to fly with, as THC remains illegal at the federal level. 

August 27, 2025: The TSA announces its “One Stop Security” pilot program, which exempts international travelers from certain foreign countries and airports (as of the announcement, London’s Heathrow International Airport is the only foreign airport included) from rescreening by the TSA prior to connecting flights at certain American airports.

According to the TSA’s press release, the pilot “is one of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s top priorities and is the result of close collaboration between TSA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the United Kingdom.”

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September 30, 2025: The TSA issues a press release announcing the results of a DHS investigation led by Secretary Kristi Noem that claims the Biden administration “weaponized the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) against innocent American citizens” by enforcing mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic and adding certain January 6 capital protest participants to TSA watchlists for increased screening.

As a result of the investigation, DHS fired five TSA administrators, including the Executive Assistant Administrator for Operations Support and the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Intelligence and Analysis. 

October 1, 2025: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history begins as Republicans and Democrats in Congress fail to reach an agreement to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations. As essential workers, TSA agents and air traffic controllers are required to continue to work while their paychecks are put on hold by the shutdown.

October 13, 2025: Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency that oversees the TSA, produces a video to be shown at airports around the country in which she blames Democrats for the government shutdown and resultant lack of pay for TSA agents. 

In the video, Noem states, “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government and because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.” 

Many airports (about one-third nationwide) refuse to play the video for travelers, with some claiming that airing it would violate state, federal, or local law along with airport rules and regulations regarding political messaging. 

October 14, 2025: Because the government shutdown began during a pay period, TSA and air traffic control employees receive a partial paycheck for the pay period ending October 14. 

October 28, 2025: TSA and air traffic control employees do not receive any pay for the pay period ending on October 28. 

November 2, 2025: Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) posts on X to inform travelers that TSA checkpoint wait times may be three hours or longer due to staffing shortages resulting from the government shutdown. 

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November 5, 2025: Philadelphia International Airport announces the closure of security checkpoints at two terminals, Terminal A-West and Terminal F, amid TSA staffing shortages resulting from the government shutdown. 

November 10, 2025: A revised appropriations bill is passed by the house, indicating that the government shutdown is nearing its conclusion. 

November 12, 2025: President Donald Trump signs the Senate’s appropriations bill, officially ending the shutdown after 43 days, making it the longest shutdown in U.S. history. This ends the suspension of pay for federal employees, including TSA and ATC staff. All TSA and ATC employees are set to receive back pay for their work during the shutdown. 

November 13, 2025: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announces during a press conference at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport that certain TSA employees who went above and beyond by not missing any shifts and/or picking up extra shifts during the shutdown would be receiving bonus checks for $10,000.

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