TSA Absences Triple at Major Hubs as 300 Officers Quit During DHS Shutdown

Nearly half the security officers at Houston's Hobby Airport didn't show up for work on March 8. That single statistic captures the scale of a staffing crisis now rippling through American airports as roughly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration employees work without pay during the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding lapse.

Internal TSA statistics obtained exclusively by CBS News show unscheduled absences among frontline officers have more than tripled since the DHS funding lapse began on Feb. 14. The nationwide average callout rate has climbed to 6%, up from about 2% before the shutdown. On February 23, that national rate spiked to 9%. More than 300 TSA employees have left the agency entirely since the shutdown began.

The numbers are more alarming at individual airports. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York recorded the highest average absence rate among major hubs at 21%. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International followed at 19%, with Houston Hobby at 18%, New Orleans at 14%, and Pittsburgh at 13%.

Houston Hobby became the most visible flashpoint. On March 8, 53% of scheduled officers called out, with 47% absent the following day. That two-day near-collapse of staffing pushed security wait times to 3.5 hours at peak, with lines still averaging three hours by 4 p.m. that Sunday, according to Reuters reporting by David Shepardson.

The financial math is straightforward. TSA workers have been absorbing the loss of pay since mid-February, but the most severe pressure point arrives Thursday. "Spring-break travel will heat up as TSA workers receive their first zero paycheck on March 13," said Chris Sununu, CEO of Airlines for America, the industry trade group. DHS itself acknowledged the situation bluntly: TSA workers "now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages."

The timing could not be worse for American travelers. Airlines are projecting 171 million passengers will fly during the spring travel period, up 4% over the same window last year. Sununu warned that lawmakers appear poised to repeat a pattern of inaction: "The fear is that, once again, they're not going to act until something really desperate happens, until we get long lines."

Those long lines have already arrived.

History offers a cautionary precedent. TSA's top official, Ha Nguyen McNeill, told Congress that roughly 1,110 transportation security officers left the agency in October and November 2025 following a 43-day government shutdown, a more than 25% increase in departures compared to the same period in 2024. The current shutdown has already produced more than 300 departures in less than four weeks, suggesting attrition could again accelerate sharply if the funding lapse continues.

The structural consequences extend beyond delayed flights. Each resignation depletes a federal workforce that requires months of hiring and training to rebuild. A workforce that cannot pay its rent does not stay intact waiting for congressional action, and the 300 departures recorded so far almost certainly undercount the officers weighing their options as March 13 approaches.