Officers have been asking a version of the same question since the Gold+ announcement in July. If the technology is coming, which positions does it take?
As of October 6 there is an answer, and it came from the Administrator.
The Two He Named
Explaining how TSA would recover the cost of a modernized PreCheck lane, he said the savings come from staffing, and he gave two examples.
The first is the travel document position. You do not need two people checking driver's licenses, he said, because the e-gates do the check of the driver's license.
The second is the CT lane. You do not need two people necessarily on each CT, he said, because image on alarm allows you to do it with one person.
The X-Ray Position Is the One That Goes
The two officers on a CT lane are not two image operators. They are the X-ray operator and the physical search officer. One reads every image. The other opens the bags that get flagged.
Image on alarm only changes the first half of that. The officer is no longer presented with every image. The machine clears what it clears and surfaces only what alarms.
There is no longer a stream of images requiring a dedicated person to sit and read them. What remains is one officer resolving the alarms the machine produces.
This is not a theory about how TSA might staff it. The model already exists inside the agency. Checked baggage screening runs on alarm only, and the officer who reviews those images is the officer who performs the search. One position, both functions, because the images only arrive when there is something to resolve.
So the CT function goes from two officers to one, and the one that remains is the search position. That is the savings he described.
Attrition, Not Separation
Federal News Network, reporting the same remarks on October 6, recorded that the Administrator said the newer technology will require fewer staff, that there will be fewer positions at PreCheck checkpoints, and that TSA will reduce positions through attrition rather than layoffs. He put current attrition at 15 to 20 percent, higher than it should be and worse among newer hires.
Fewer officers not through a reduction in force, but through vacancies that are not filled.
That distinction matters for an officer, and it cuts two ways. Nobody gets a separation notice. There is also nothing to grieve, no adverse action, no appeal, and no severance calculation, because nothing happens to any individual officer. The position simply is not backfilled when whoever holds it leaves.
The practical effect lands on the people who stay. Fewer officers at the same checkpoint means the same work distributed differently, less margin for callouts and leave, and fewer bid positions to move into.
The Savings Is from Reduced Staffing
TSA is modeling a three year payback on a roughly $4 million modernized lane set. The return comes from two sources: PreCheck enrollment fees, with the agency hoping to add about 20 million members over three years against roughly 50 million today, and the staffing savings described above.
New lanes are scheduled to roll out at seven airports over the next six weeks.
TSA Told Congress the Same Thing in April
This is not a new position taken at a conference. It is in the budget request.
The FY2027 congressional budget justification proposes eliminating 2,462 Transportation Security Officer positions and 4,351 officer full-time equivalents. The justification is one sentence: "Advances in screening technology and process improvements have enabled TSA to maintain security standards with a smaller workforce."
That reduction is separate from the 4,528 positions the same request attributes to privatizing all category III and IV airports, and separate again from 1,347 positions and 511 full-time equivalents attributed to workforce restructuring. The total the request describes is 8,385 positions and 9,439 full-time equivalents below the FY2026 annualized continuing resolution level.
The Capital Investment Plan for FY2026 through FY2030 adds the operational picture. With remote screening and Image on Alarm Only implemented, TSA anticipates up to a 54 percent increase in checkpoint throughput. Under Alarm Resolution, the plan states that TSA is exploring stand-off detection technologies to reduce or even eliminate pat-downs, and capability for equipment to both identify and analyze alarmed material with no additional procedures or equipment needed to clear the alarm.
The same plan records that current funding supports hiring 13,500 employees including 8,500 to 9,000 officers, against a forecasted need of 10,315 officers.
Two Other Documents Point the Same Way
The direction is consistent across documents that were written separately.
The Science and Technology Directorate's FY2027 request funds a self-service screening project that, in its own words, enables a checkpoint concept of operations with limited officer engagement. Three pod-style systems arrive in FY2027 for evaluation with officers and mock passengers. A separate line funds video analytics that monitor compliance with detection screening processes. The carry-on screening project lists reduced operator burden among its deliverables.
On September 25, TSA sole sourced up to 304 Advanced Imaging Technology units under the DHS Secretary's Modernization Capital Improvement Program. Among the operational reasons given for the selection is a lower pat down rate.
What This Does Not Tell You
It does not tell you whether the reduction stops at PreCheck lanes. The Administrator described extending modernization to standard lane checkpoints as well.
It does not tell you the timeline at your airport, and nothing published commits TSA to one.
And it does not tell you what happens to the positions that remain when lanes are consolidated. Describing what twice the throughput makes possible, the Administrator raised the prospect of taking away lanes and consolidating both standard and PreCheck lanes.
For the incentive the successor program offers airports, see Gold+ Lacked an Incentive. The Successor Has One.
What an Officer Can Do Now
Know your own numbers before anyone else needs them. Your service computation date, your retirement eligibility date, your creditable service, and your FEHB five year clock. Those four figures determine your options in every scenario on this page, and none of them can be reconstructed quickly under pressure.
If your airport is among the seven, you will likely know before it is announced, because the installation will be visible. What you see at your checkpoint is worth reporting to us.
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