Travelers at U.S. airports will no longer have to remove their shoes as part of routine airport security screenings conducted by the Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Tuesday. The new policy goes into effect immediately at all airports nationwide.
“It’s important that we find ways to keep people safe, but also streamline and make the process more enjoyable for every single person,” Noem said during a press conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va.
She said that efficiency at the nation’s airports will be especially important in the next few years because of major events that will bring large numbers of travelers to the United States, including the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Noem added that new technological advances have made it possible to make this change without compromising safety.
“TSA first implemented the no-shoes policy in 2006, almost 20 years ago,” she said. “And in those 20 years, our security technology has changed dramatically. It has evolved.”
Why did TSA implement the ‘no shoe’ policy in the first place?
In December 2001, just months after the 9/11 terror attacks in the U.S., a British man named Richard Reid attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoe. He failed to detonate the explosives, and passengers helped to restrain him. The flight from Paris to Miami landed safely in Boston. Reid was later known as the “shoe bomber.”
After the incident, airlines and the newly created TSA asked passengers to voluntarily remove their shoes for screening at airports. In 2006, TSA implemented the no-shoes rule nationwide.
Was anyone exempt from the rule?
Before the policy change, the following travelers did not have to remove their shoes at the security checkpoint at the airport:
- Children 12 years old and under
- Travelers enrolled with trusted programs, such as TSA PreCheck and Clear, which involves a clearance process with TSA
