Topline
More than one-third of U.S. airline passengers won’t see the politicized video from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that blames the government shutdown on Democrats—as major airports cite federal, state and local policies prohibiting partisan messaging in their facilities.
The top 10 U.S. airports—accounting for 35% of all commercial passenger volume in the country, according to OAG Aviation—will not play the controversial DHS video featuring Noem.
“In keeping with federal and local airport policies,” Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the nation’s busiest, “will not display the recently-distributed video from DHS on airport controlled media,” an airport spokesperson told Forbes, saying it “strives to maintain a neutral and welcoming environment for all travelers.”
The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) told Forbes it declined a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) request to post the video at the country’s second-largest airport, Chicago O’Hare, as well as Chicago Midway airport, noting that all advertising, “including promotional materials and public service announcements”, must comply with guidelines “that prohibit content that endorses or opposes any named political party.”
No. 3 among busiest U.S. airports, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport told a local ABC News affiliate it will not play the video, citing “long-standing policies,” and joining the city’s other airport, Dallas Love Field.
A representative for Denver International Airport, the nation’s fourth-busiest, told Forbes it “does not have monitors capable of playing videos at checkpoints” and consequently the TSA has not asked it to.
Los Angeles International Airport, No. 5 in the rankings, and its neighbor, Hollywood Burbank Airport, are not airing Noem’s video, according to NBC LA, noting policies that prohibit running videos with a political message.
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the sixth busiest in the country, as well as the Big Apple’s other major hubs, LaGuardia and Newark, will not show the videos, according to Cheryl Albiez, spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, citing “longstanding policies prevent airing of politically partisan messages at our facilities.”
No. 7, Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport, has declined to air the video due to concerns about political messaging, a local ABC News affiliate reported.
“North Carolina municipal law as well as CLT Airport’s policy for digital content do not permit the referenced video,” a spokesperson for Charlotte Douglas International, the country’s eight busiest airport, told Forbes in an email.
No. 9, San Francisco International Airport, is refusing to show the video, according to a local news report.
Officials at Seattle-Tacoma International, the tenth busiest U.S. airport, cited “the political nature of the content” as the reason it was declining to air the video and urged “bipartisan efforts to end the government shutdown” in a statement to The Seattle Times.
Nearly three dozen U.S. airports in total not showing the video to passengers. Major airports include Baltimore/Washington International, Boston Logan, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Miami International, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Philadelphia International and Salt Lake City International. (Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), the airport authority for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, told Forbes it is not airing the video while it evaluates TSA’s request “under applicable legal requirements.”) Among the medium-sized hubs are Colorado Springs, Oakland, Portland, Tucson, San Jose, Spokane and Cleveland-Hopkins airports. Many smaller airports—including Buffalo Niagara, Niagara Falls International and Westchester County Airport in New York—are also declining to air the video.
In the video, Noem tells travelers “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government,” claiming that is why “most of our TSA employees are working without pay.” The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees—with some exceptions for the president and vice president—from making partisan attacks while on the job “to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation,” according to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at the non-partisan ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Forbes it’s probably not a violation of the Hatch Act “because it's not tied to an election,” but calls it “entirely inappropriate to be using federal resources to message on a partisan basis and disparage the opposing political party.” A 2021 report from the OSC found 13 administration officials from President Donald Trump’s first term violated the Hatch Act by engaging in partisan messaging, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, secretary of state Mike Pompeo, acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and national security adviser Robert O’Brien. Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway violated the act dozens of times in her official capacity, according to a 2019 OSC report recommending that Trump fire her.
None, unless Trump decides otherwise. “As a general matter, if you violate the Hatch Act, you are subject to discipline” including potential suspension, loss of pay or even removal from position, Brown told Forbes. “But there aren't a lot of teeth for the most senior officials, when it is someone at the cabinet level who reports to the President.” The 2021 OSC report concluded that “the Hatch Act is only as effective as the White House decides it will be” and noted “President Trump’s failure to ensure compliance by his senior officials allowed for, as one federal court said of a senior administration official, members of the administration to ‘violate the Hatch Act with seeming impunity.’”
The Trump administration has been airing the video at airports across the country since Thursday, Reuters reported. Traditionally, DHS videos screened in airports—like one featuring Noem educating the public about REAL ID requirements—are informational and avoid partisan messaging.
“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, most of our TSA employees are working without pay,” TSA assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate our workforce has been put in this position due to political gamesmanship. Our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”
A memo sent last week from Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), blaming “Senate Democrats’ recalcitrance” for the shutdown angered many in the workforce, according to three TSA officers who told Forbes “people are very put-off by this rhetoric” and “we feel sickened.”
TSA Warns Staff ‘Illegitimate’ Absences During Shutdown ‘Will Not Be Tolerated’ In Partisan Email (Forbes)