National News
Travelers in Cleveland, L.A., Phoenix, Seattle and other cities will not see the footage, which blames congressional Democrats for shutdown-related flight delays.
Airports in more than a half-dozen U.S. markets have declined to display a video in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem blames congressional Democrats for the government shutdown and any related travel delays, citing the political nature of its content, according to local authorities.
Officials that oversee airports serving Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, said the video could violate internal policies that bar political messaging or contravene state or federal laws that prohibit the use of public resources for political activity.
“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” said Molly Prescott, a spokesperson for the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport. Enacted in 1939, the Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in politics while on the job and is meant to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.
Oregon law also precludes public employees from promoting or opposing political parties during working hours, Prescott said, noting: “This is the first time to our knowledge that the Port has declined to play a video.”
Westchester County, a community just north of New York City, also declined to show the video; County Executive Ken Jenkins called it “inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation’s top public officials” and “unnecessarily alarmist” in a statement on Friday.
Some airports have not been asked to air the videos, as they don’t have screens available to play them with sound, according to local officials.
Though airports routinely display video greetings from the homeland security chief at TSA checkpoints, the messages typically center on safety or procedures to be aware of, said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. For example, the agency used the screens to broadcast the need to have a Real ID — the standard for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards that took effect in May — to board a domestic flight.
Noem’s latest message was unusual because of its overtly partisan tone, some airline industry experts said.
“It is TSA’s top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible,” Noem says in the video, captured by news organizations and on social media. “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted.”
“We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel. And our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government,” she says.
In response to questions, a TSA spokesperson reiterated much of what Noem’s video said, adding, “While this creates challenges for our people, our security operations remain largely unimpacted at this time.”
Rob Britton, a former American Airlines executive who is now an adjunct professor of marketing at Georgetown University, said he couldn’t think of a close precedent for Noem’s video.
“I’ve been around this business a long, long time,” he said.
The video could put airports and local TSA management in an uncomfortable position. Publicly owned airports, for example, might be worried about running afoul of federal or state laws, Britton said. On the other hand, some airports might feel the need to “play along” to avoid angering the federal government as airports receive significant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration for runways and other infrastructure, he said.
In other cases, whether the video is being played at a given airport could depend on who owns the screens, said an industry official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. In some cases the TSA might own the television systems, the person said.
Many TSA agents and other employees are still working but are not being paid because of a government shutdown now nearing the end of its second week. Major U.S. airports have suffered disruptions amid staffing shortages, with nearly 8,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. delayed Sunday and another 271 canceled, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. As of early afternoon Monday, there were more than 3,900 delays and 475 cancellations involving U.S. flights.
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