BALTIMORE — It's been 20 years since BWI launched under TSA security oversight, marking the federalization of the first airport after TSA was established.
A security checkpoint was staffed by federal TSA officers only a few months after September 11.
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) became law in November 2001, which established the TSA.
At that point, TSA consisted of about 100 people working at folding tables in the basement of Department of Transportation headquarters.
Now 20 years later, there are 430 federalized airports and a workforce of 60,000 employees nationwide.
“The seeds of TSA’s accomplishments over the past 20 years were sown right here by the team at BWI,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said.
The first federal screening officers served at BWI, and the first mobile screening force officers trained at BWI before they were deployed across the country.
