TSA has been briefing airports on a plan involving "investable partnerships where leading industry operators manage both technology and screening workforce."

The Trump administration wants to cut airport security screeners and shift funding to private contractors under the Screening Partnership Program.

The airport chaos has a name, a document, a sequence, and a private contractor waiting at the end of it. The staffing shortage is the cover story, the scheduled transfer of public infrastructure to private hands is the mechanism, and the workers are the proof of concept.