The northern end of the airfield had originally been operated by RAF Transport Command (although the first aircraft to be based on the field were Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm target tugs that relocated from Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda in 1943), during the Second World War.

In 1970, by when the United States Air Force had little need of a trans-Atlantic staging post due to the increased range of its bombers and transport aircraft, the airfield was transferred to the US Navy.

The Bermuda Police Service maintained a small station in the Civil Air Terminal, controlled the access points to airside used by workers and vehicles, drove vehicle patrols, and kept watch on the tarmac (with no jetways, passengers at the airport are able to mingle with apron workers).

[14][15][16][17] The unit has a strength of about twenty, under the control of a uniformed manager, a former senior officer of the Bermuda Police Service.

As a British Overseas Territory, security of the airfield, and of aviation in Bermuda, is ultimately the responsibility of the UK Government.

[18] The National Aviation Security Plan (NASP) of the UK Government's Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) (now the Department for Transport (DfT)), also determined the content of the Bermudian NASP, which describes the roles, responsibilities and procedures relating to security of the Bermuda International Airport.

Consequently, the ASP also act under the oversight of the UK Department for Transport's (DfT) Regional Aviation Security Officer, responsible for Bermuda and for other British Overseas Territories in the Atlantic and the West Indies, based in the United States.