The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on November 13, 2025 announced that select TSA officers who served during the recent 43-day federal government shutdown will receive one-time bonus payments of $10,000 each, though it isn’t clear what the criteria are for this award or how many will receive the bonus.

TSA To Award $10,000 Bonuses For Exemplary Service During Shutdown

DHS states that the funds will go to officers who “served with exemplary service” during the shutdown, when many TSA officers were required to work without pay. At a press conference, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the bonuses are meant to recognize those who “took extra shifts, helped individuals, they served extra shifts … they were all examples of what we need.” She also clarified that the criteria do not rely solely on attendance, noting, “That’s not necessarily the parameters.”

Noem credited President Trump with the bonuses, saying:

“I’m pleased to announce that under President Trump, we are giving a $10,000 bonus to TSA officers across our nation who went above and beyond during the Democrats’ shutdown. They guaranteed that America wouldn’t shut down – no matter how badly the Democrats wanted average Americans to feel the pain. Their unsung patriotism deserves recognition. President Trump and I are so grateful for these patriots.”

When explaining that it would be more than just perfect attendance, Noem added, “We’re going to look at every individual that did exceptional service during this period of time when there were so many hardships.”

Trump earlier floated bonuses for Air Traffic Controllers.

Who Qualifies?

The shutdown required roughly 50,000 TSA officers to continue screening passengers without pay while airports faced staffing shortages and longer security lines. DHS said the bonuses are intended to help families “get back on their feet” after going without pay for six weeks.

In some sense, I’m all for that. Asking people to show up to work and without pay is a whole lot to ask and I am grateful for TSA agents and other federal employees who kept air travel moving during this shutdown.

I just hope that this is more than a publicity stunt; I hope that there will be transparency and a clearly laid-out criterion to ascertain who qualifies and who does not.

Maybe it is more than perfect attendance…maybe it is those who worked at least 20 hours of overtime as well (or something like that). But those who engaged in “exemplary” service or who went “above and beyond” just seem so vague.

I welcome clarification from DHS on this.

CONCLUSION

For now, TSA’s $10,000 bonus program targets officers who worked through the shutdown and were identified as providing exemplary service. DHS has indicated that more information on the criteria and the total number of officers receiving payments will be released as the program is implemented. Until then, I’ll withhold final judgment, but it seems to me that transparency is key here.