In July 2025, we saw former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem implement one of the biggest policy changes we’ve seen at the TSA in years. With this, travelers no longer have to take off their shoes at TSA checkpoints.
Continue reading: Senator Blasts Kristi Noem’s “Reckless” TSA Shoe Policy, Demands Reversal
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Both are total morons but Duckworth goes into the "R" area. Like most politician totally useless.
Of the airports I've been in through Europe I don't recall ever taking my shoes off, and planes aren't just falling out of the skies on the regular there. Still, with all the technology we have today it would seem we could find a way to scan without having to remove them. Those full body scanners couldn't catch anything? Other irony for me is I have TSA precheck so in theory i don't have to take off my shoes but I have two pairs that almost always set off the detector when I walk through. Insults of politicians aside, it's a fair question
It’s admirable what Senator Duckworth sacrificed. Seriously, look into her personal story - it’s an inspiration. But as my Senator, she leaves a LOT lacking. I’ve never voted for her in a primary and typically throw away a third party vote in the general to express my dissatisfaction with her extreme natsec friendly views.
Like a ticking clock that’s always wrong, you can always expect her to oppose civil liberties and cite national security as a reason. If the so-called deep state exists, Tammy Duckworth is the deep state’s number one defender and ally. This puffed up letter is entirely within character for her and yet she’s basically a United States Senator for as long as she wants to be.
(Horrible joke incoming)
Well, sure, Senator Duckworth will never have to take *her* shoes off…
(Sorry! Sorry! Tip your server!)
I'd assume there's some government contractor out there building a TSA luggage screening AI use case that should flag the prohibited items a human missed.
Not really related but would be very curious to hear your thoughts on how AI may affect travel and your business. Airlines will get better at pricing and optimizing points for their benefit, sweet spots will likely disappear, mistake fares will be caught, chatgpt will quickly tell you why you should fly JAL over AA to Japan with pictures and mini reviews, SEO and marketing revenue less reliable if bots are searching instead of humans googling, etc.
With all due respect to Senator Tammy Duckworth (who has been a credit to my home state of IL), I disagree. There has been no added security benefit of requiring travelers to remove shoes. Even more evident is that many other countries with robust airport security rules do not require this of their passengers either.
I shed no tears for Kristi Noem, and hate what she and ICE have done to this country, but sometimes a broken clock can be right.
ALL my dress shoes have steel shanks in them, so they *always* set off the metal detectors. My favorite part of the TSA PreCheck® theatre is when they tell me I can keep my shoes on, I still take them off, they scream at me to keep them on (which I do), and then I beep anyway.
Good times.
When we make a thousand people line up so that they are easy targets for a terrorist firing squad with AK-47s, why are we making such a fuss about shoes?
Maybe this ah Senator, should concern himself with waste, fraud, and abuse, protecting the American people from Iran nuclear tyranny, among many other useful things, and let the -professionals at TSA- who went unpaid for months, do their jobs, instead of showboating for any minor attention this so called Senator is trying to get by capitalizing upon the misfortunes or Kristie’s departure.
Maybe you should figure out that this senator is a she.
Kristie? Is that you, Corey?
M’am we all know it’s theater and TSA is shit at covert tests. Go over to your TSA escort and have a nice day.
(I can’t be the only one howling that DHS was stupid enough not to classify such a study?)
I say just remove the entire TSA. TSA is entirely ineffective and staffed by stupid people.
Pipe down Duckworth. The Democrats have already done enough damage to our freedoms. From Covid lockdowns to forcing DEI initiatives, youre party is a joke.
@KllmaBXsst,
To add, she was a commissioned officer in the US Army, she is a double leg amputee after her Blackhawk helicopter she was flying was shot down in Iraq. Confined to a wheelchair.
So go take your sanctimonious BS and shove it up your @ss.
The current generation of personal screening systems can adequately detect hidden items. Update the equipment to the current generation. It's not tough.
True. Why does Republicans and some Democrats that need to have an overly inflated and bloated agency ruining your life??? And funding them too????
Well, Senator, we should also ban bags, jackets, and pockets because we know the TSA misses a large fraction of banned items. In fact, we should switch to an entire nudist model for air transport, where no clothing at all is allowed from the TSA checkpoint until your outside of baggage claim.
/s, in case it wasn't obvious.
That may be true, but it doesn't mean that she's an expert on all things security. Or that she knows anything about the latest screening systems. However, she is a hyper partisan Democrat who pulls no punches when going after her political opponents. That's what's happening here.
She may be a wounded veteran and that is to be respected and honored. But it doesn't make her a saint. She is not.
She needs to retire from public affairs to give herself a mental recovery from the trauma which she had never recovered from the wounds.
She lost them serving her country in the folly in Iraq. I'm sure she would prefer to deal with having to remove her shoes at a TSA checkpoint than dealing with crutches and wheelchairs.
Gynofascism at work! All in the name of safety, even if it's gone totally overboard.
Anything that you could hide in your shoe could be hidden in your rectum, totally out of view of the Nude-O-Scopes.
I totally get where she's coming from.
The only few people alive who rightfully should have PTSD about foot exploding everytime she goes through TSA and see a shoe not separately scanned.
The 2 real question still remains.
1. Does shoe on really weaken security.
2. Is there other room for improvement elsewhere since before shoes on, many things still got pass TSA.
Are they really that ineffective considering we have not had a terrorist attack since the TSA was established? It is very easy to forget about the attacks that never happened because they were prevented by TSA. These poor employees have worked with no pay for months at a time, held hostage by both parties and used as a political football. The employees are not stupid, our leaders are the stupid ones.
Dave were you born as a low information, low IQ individual or did you become one over time? Nature vs Nurture, you’re a loser either way.
Greetings from Europe everyone. Allow me remind those who want to reintroduce the sight of barefoot travelers at TSA checkpoints that Richard Reid flew from Paris, which like other airports in Europe did not, does not and will not require shoes to be removed at screening.
Modern scanners are much better anyway at seeing things, even the small dongles of the immature bunch among the commenters who think it is funny to make jokes about another human being who lost their legs.
Duckworth can't walk - pure jealousy, that's why she sadistically wants to further humiliate a tired nation of travelers.
It seems most of the world allows trainers to remain on. At LHR T5 recently, any footwear above the ankle had to be removed and at MNL T1, any non-trainers had to be removed. Also, would the Senator's request, if implemented, apply to elected officials going through their 'special' security lanes?
Exactly! And force essential workers work for free. Congress does enough to make air travel a miserable experience.
How come most of the world doesn’t require it and there’s no problems in most of the countries …