Page 1 GAO-25-107573 TSA Preparedness Plan
Global connectivity through air and other modes of transportation makes
international travel easier but also can potentially expedite the spread of
emerging communicable diseases. For example, air travel introduced both the
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19 to various regions
of the world, the latter of which led to over a million deaths in the U.S. and cost
trillions of dollars.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) within the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) is the primary federal agency with the mission of
securing the nation’s transportation systems, including air, rail, mass transit, and
other modes of transportation. During a communicable disease outbreak, TSA is
to ensure security is not compromised while minimizing disruptions across these
modes. Further, the agency seeks to ensure the health and safety of passengers
and its workforce of about 50,000 transportation security officers stationed across
the nation's nearly 440 commercial airports.
TSA is one of several federal agencies with roles and responsibilities in preparing
for, assessing, and responding to communicable disease threats in the aviation
system. For example, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for
developing a national aviation preparedness plan to address a communicable
disease outbreak. This plan has yet to be published as of April 2025.
As required in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY
2022 NDAA), TSA published the Transportation Security Preparedness Plan to
Address the Event of a Communicable Disease (TSA preparedness plan) in
February 2024 (Pub. L. No. 117-81, § 6412(a), 135 Stat. 1541, 2409-2411)
(codified at 49 U.S.C. § 114(x)). The act also included a provision for us to
assess the plan TSA developed. We are providing information on the TSA
preparedness plan, including the extent to which it aligns with other federal plans
and strategies and TSA’s efforts to distribute and implement it.
• The TSA preparedness plan builds on other planning documents that TSA
previously developed to prepare for a communicable disease outbreak.
• TSA shared information with us on steps it took to align its preparedness plan
with other relevant federal plans and strategies, which included coordinating
with various partners. We also identified examples of alignment between the
TSA preparedness plan and other selected federal plans.
• TSA did not initially distribute its plan to its partners, including federal
agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the TSA workforce, or the
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Communicable Diseases: Transportation
Security Administration
Developed Its
Preparedness Plan
-25-107573
Committees
