TSA Workers Resign Amid Government Shutdown, Creating Airport Security Crisis

More than 375 Transportation Security Administration officers have resigned since the government shutdown began on Valentine's Day, as workers face financial hardship from missed paychecks. The exodus is creating long wait times at airports nationwide and threatens long-term staffing challenges for airport security.

Facing eviction warnings, car repossessions, and empty bank accounts, Transportation Security Administration workers across the country are making a difficult choice: quit their jobs or continue working without pay during the ongoing government shutdown.

Federal officials and union representatives report that TSA officers are grappling with severe financial hardships as they endure their third unpaid work period in under six months. The latest shutdown, which started on Valentine’s Day, has already prompted at least 376 officers to resign from their positions, according to Department of Homeland Security data.

The departures are worsening staffing problems at an agency already known for having among the federal government’s highest turnover rates and poorest employee satisfaction levels.

“It’s just exhausting. Every day it just feels like this weight gets heavier and heavier on us,” said Cameron Cochems, a TSA union representative in Boise, Idaho, speaking to The Associated Press.

Cochems, who has served as a TSA officer for over four years while also holding the vice president role in his local American Federation of Government Employees chapter, believes the resignation numbers don’t tell the complete story of the agency’s staffing crisis. He suspects many more workers would have left if better job opportunities were available.

“I think more people are staying with the TSA that don’t want to be here,” Cochems explained.

A Government Accountability Office study from 2024 revealed that TSA employees have consistently ranked among the least satisfied federal workers, largely due to historically low wages and ongoing workplace issues. Despite recent salary increases, the research found widespread dissatisfaction continues, with staff members pointing to unpredictable management, lack of appreciation, and poor work-life balance as major concerns.

Entry-level TSA positions start at approximately $34,500 annually, while experienced officers typically earn between $46,000 and $55,000, based on the agency’s official recruitment materials.

The GAO study cautioned that without addressing these fundamental problems, the agency would likely continue facing high departure rates.

For Cochems, the recurring shutdowns have destroyed the job security that originally attracted him to federal employment. He already works additional seasonal hours screening college athletic teams at airports to boost his earnings, but even that extra income isn’t sufficient to cover basic living costs without his regular TSA salary.

His family’s financial situation became even more precarious when his wife unexpectedly lost her job while his government pay remained suspended.

“Every day I come to the airport and I look at the food drive, see what things I can get for my family,” he shared, referencing charitable donations that Atlanta’s airport and other facilities are collecting to assist TSA employees.

The 35-day-old shutdown specifically impacts the Department of Homeland Security. Congressional Democrats have stated they will not approve department funding until new limitations are implemented on federal immigration enforcement, following the deadly shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis this year.

Air travelers are experiencing the consequences of reduced TSA staffing through increasingly unreliable airport conditions. Security checkpoint delays have extended to multiple hours at various airports, with passengers in Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans reporting waits so lengthy they caused missed flights.

TSA workers missed their first complete paycheck over the past weekend, and nationwide absence rates are climbing, Homeland Security reports indicate. More than half of scheduled personnel were absent Sunday at one Houston airport facility. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 38% of officers didn’t report for work on Wednesday.

“I’ve heard from officers who cannot afford copayments for cancer treatments or office visits for their sick children,” stated Aaron Barker, an Atlanta-based TSA union leader, during a press conference held outside the airport this week.

Personnel shortages have compelled some airports to shut down security checkpoints entirely, causing wait times to fluctuate wildly throughout each day. Early Friday morning, Hartsfield-Jackson’s primary security checkpoint experienced delays exceeding one hour, which dropped to under five minutes by early afternoon before surging back to 75 minutes.

During a Fox News appearance this week, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl cautioned that the shutdown might create permanent staffing damage, predicting that both employee departures and new hiring efforts would suffer. He referenced data showing that resignations increased 25% following the previous shutdown, and anticipates conditions will deteriorate further without restored funding and regular paychecks for TSA personnel.

“We saw an uptick of 25% attrition after the last shutdown, and so this is going to continue and worsen — not get better, get worse — if we don’t get a resumption of normal operations, DHS funded and money back into our TSA officers’ pockets,” he stated, noting that the agency has used all available resources, including emergency staffing deployments, to maintain adequate security checkpoint operations.

Former TSA Administrator John Pistole reported that approximately 1,100 officers resigned during last year’s unprecedented 43-day shutdown that concluded in November.