PT World
Kylie Bielby
15 April 2025
Covid-19 led to over a million deaths in the USA and disrupted travel. It also underscored the need for a dedicated communicable diseases preparedness plan for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
TSA Preparedness Plan
In February 2024, TSA published the Transportation Security Preparedness Plan to Address the Event of a Communicable Disease (known briefly as the TSA preparedness plan). Now, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), published on April 9, says TSA has taken steps to implement the TSA preparedness plan. For example, TSA has updated field office planning guidance to include elements of the plan and intends to conduct exercises by the end of 2025, according to officials.
GAO found that TSA was slow to distribute the TSA preparedness plan to certain partners, including federal departments and agencies, TSA’s workforce and the traveling public. The agency acknowledged this oversight in December 2024 and has since distributed the plan to all partners.
Read on: TSA plans to conduct disease outbreak preparedness exercises - Passenger Terminal Today
