Lawmakers call for watchdog review of Transportation’s passenger privacy practices
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ByEdward Graham,
Managing Editor, Nextgov/FCW
August 26, 2026 05:00 PM ET
The Department of Transportation “has never taken a single enforcement action related to privacy,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, said in a letter to the Government Accountability Office.
Two Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Government Accountability Office to launch an investigation into the Department of Transportation’s airline passenger privacy practices, warning that the agency has failed to safeguard U.S. citizens’ personal data by not moving to regulate the practices of commercial airlines.
In a Wednesday letter to GAO acting Comptroller General Orice Brown, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, noted that “although DOT has had sole authority to safeguard passenger data for over 40 years, DOT has never taken a single enforcement action related to privacy.”
The lawmakers added that DOT’s “abdication...
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