The US is facing calls to reinstate an airport security measure it scrapped last year, after critics branded the change ‘reckless’ and warned it opened up a ‘security deficiency’.
One Democratic senator has delivered a sharply worded complaint to the Department of Homeland Security following former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to reverse a long-standing safety procedure designed to help Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff detect particular threats hidden on passengers.
Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois accused Noem of pursuing a ‘reckless and dangerous’ shift by rolling back a practice that had been in place for close to two decades.
The change involved moving to a ‘Shoes on’ approach after the ‘Shoes off’ policy was dropped on July 8 last year—something Duckworth argues could heighten the risk of terrorism or the smuggling of hazardous materials onto aircraft.
Under the revised policy, travelers can keep their shoes on while passing through airport screening, despite an internal watchdog investigation indicating TSA cannot reliably screen footwear.
“Secretary Noem’s decision to implement a shoes on policy on July 8, 2025, likely without meaningful consultation with TSA [Transportation Security Administration], was a reckless act,” Duckworth wrote to Ha Nguyen McNeill, the administrator of the DHS, per CBS News.
She also faulted the department for, in her view, leaving the issue unresolved—saying it was ‘allowing a potentially catastrophic security deficiency to remain in place for seven months and counting’ and that doing so ‘betrays TSA’s mission’.
“At a minimum, TSA’s failure to swiftly implement corrective action warrants the immediate withdrawal of Secretary Noem’s reckless and dangerous policy that increases the risk of a terrorist smuggling a dangerous item onto a flight,” she said, adding: “Noem’s policy move had inadvertently created a new security vulnerability in the system.”
Previously, passengers aged 12 to 75 were generally required to remove their shoes before screening—though those enrolled in TSA’s Precheck Trusted Traveler program were typically permitted to keep them on.
The original shoes-removal requirement was introduced in 2006 after Richard Reid—known as the ‘Shoe bomber’—hid around 10 ounces of explosives in his footwear and attempted to detonate them on an American Airlines flight traveling from Paris to Miami on December 22, 2001.
Noem’s decision to abandon that rule was positioned as a way to speed up airport lines, but concerns about whether security standards could still be met have intensified Duckworth’s criticism.
After the watchdog raised its findings, TSA was reportedly instructed to close the security gap within 90 days. Duckworth has argued that the agency’s failure to act promptly may put it at odds with federal requirements.
She wrote: “Such inaction violates Federal law, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance and DHS’s own directives.”
While some travelers welcomed the convenience of leaving their shoes on, the debate has now centered on whether the time saved is worth any added risk.