Leidos CEO Tom Bell described a prototype in development by Leidos, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Department of Homeland Security that is focused on next-generation checkpoints for passenger screening, during a Breitbart News policy event in Washington, DC, on Friday.
The remarks came after a conversation between Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Leidos CEO Tom Bell, in a discussion with Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney at the same event, said, “You go to any airport globally, and it makes Dulles look like not the airport we would all be so proud of.”
Leidos CEO Tom Bell speaks with Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney during a Breitbart News policy event in Washington, DC, on Friday, November 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Matthew Perdie/Breitbart News)
He stated that the company is “prototyping right now with the TSA and Department of Homeland Security, a new airport of the future, which has checkpoints and passenger screening facilities that are world-class,” describing systems that are “remotely operated, not congested with bodies surveying every bag,” and that would “automate that process, getting the humans up and out, thinking about the whole situation as opposed to an individual bag.”
Bell framed the timeline in terms of 2026, presenting it as a year that will include the U.S. Semiquincentennial, the World Cup, and preparations for the Olympics. He remarked, “I think every American would want it to be seen as a modern, progressive society that is embracing technology and embracing everything that America stands for.”
Leidos CEO Tom Bell speaks during a Breitbart News policy event in Washington, DC, on Friday, November 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Matthew Perdie/Breitbart News)
He explained that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, whom he called “another great cabinet member of the Trump Administration,” is focused on enabling an environment “great for the international traveler.”
Earlier on Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy outlined the “Big Beautiful Bill” and related aviation funds, noting that the Department of Transportation needs $31.5 billion to complete a modernization of the air traffic control system (ATC), while $12.5 billion was appropriated and directed for specific telecom and surveillance hardware, adding that President Donald Trump knows the “problem we have with our airspace” and has put “100 percent support” behind fixing the ATC, an effort Duffy described as a bipartisan issue with broad agreement that the overhaul “has to be done.”
WATCH: Breitbart News Policy Event with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Leidos CEO Tom Bell:
