Overview
- The TSA commemorated the 25th anniversary on Friday, honoring nearly 3,000 victims and publicly reaffirming its mission to protect the nation’s transportation systems.
- Administrator David P. Cummins announced Horizon 25 as a multi‑modal plan to upgrade screening and intelligence tools across airports, ports, railways and pipelines to meet evolving threats.
- The agency said its roughly 60,000 employees will operate expanded technology deployments, including computed tomography scanners, facial-comparison systems and credential‑authentication tools, alongside programs like TSA PreCheck.
- TSA noted recent, limited changes to passenger rules — such as ending the shoe-removal requirement and piloting TSA Gateside to let some non‑travelers reach gates — as steps to improve traveler experience.
- The modern federal screening regime created after 9/11 replaced private contractors, and officials point to that shift, plus new vetting and tech, as central to preventing another large‑scale hijacking and reshaping how people board and are screened before flights.