By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate voted on Friday to confirm David Cummins, a senior vice president of Serco, to head the Transportation Security Administration as the Trump administration pushes to privatize screeners at smaller airports.
Cummins and dozens of other nominees were confirmed on a 51-47 vote, including members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Transportation Safety Board and Surface Transportation Board as well as Christopher Phelan to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers and Cameron Hamilton to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
President Donald Trump proposed in April cutting more than 9,400 workers and just over $1.5 billion, or about 20%, from the annual budget of the 60,000-employee TSA that handles airport security operations.
Serco offers engineering, IT, and training services to federal, state and local governments, and commercial customers.
Trump also proposed requiring smaller airports to use private security, a move that would cut the TSA payroll by more than 4,500 jobs in a first step toward privatizing the agency created after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Airports in Tampa, Des Moines, Iowa, and Charleston, South Carolina, said recently they are planning to proceed with privatizing airport security. About 20 airports, including those in San Francisco, Kansas City and Sarasota, Florida, have used private security screeners for years.
Trump fired TSA head David Pekoske on the president’s first day in office in 2025 and did not nominate a replacement for 16 months. Trump had nominated Pekoske during his first term and former President Joe Biden nominated him for a second five-year term.
A lengthy government shutdown this spring forced 50,000 TSA workers to go without pay for six weeks, resulting in major disruptions, including airport security waits extending four hours or more.
Airlines for America, which represents major U.S. airlines, has said it opposes the White House proposal to require smaller airports to use private security screeners instead of the TSA.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nia Williams and Alistair Bell)
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