The Trump administration is proposing to cut 9,400 workers and just over US$1.5 billion from the 60,000-employee Transport Security Administration that handles airport security operations.
President Donald Trump said he is considering requiring smaller airports to drop TSA and use private security in a first step towards privatising the agency created after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
According to the White House, privatising smaller airports would cut the TSA payroll by more than 4,500.
The TSA proposes to cut another 4,800 jobs by improving efficiency, ending staffing at exit lanes and eliminating redundancies.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order to pay 50,000 airport security workers after they worked without pay during a partial government shutdown.
During the shutdown, many TSA workers walked off the job and nearly 500 quit, causing long lines at major airports.
