The Transportation Security Administration endangered employees, withholding N95 masks and exhibiting “gross mismanagement” in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a whistleblower complaint from a senior TSA official. TSA Federal Security Director Jay Brainard alleged that personal protective equipment was withheld from employees, supervisors were not allowed to institute facial covering mandates, and the agency did not conduct contract tracing, among other concerns. "We did not take adequate steps to make sure that we were not becoming carriers and spreaders of the virus ourselves," Brainard said. "I believe absolutely that that contributed to the spread of the coronavirus."

The complaint has led the Department of Homeland Security to open an investigation. Unlike leadership in other nations, the Trump administration has not set guidelines for airport regulations, allowing individual airlines and airports to set their own rules.