credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
- Travelers no longer have to take off their shoes at US airports.The TSA will begin the new approach at airports nationwide.DHS Secretary Kristi Noem unveiled the change on Tuesday at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
You can finally keep your shoes on at airport security.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that travelers at airports across the country won't have to remove their shoes at security checks beginning immediately, ending a nearly 20-year-old policy.
"This is something that I know for quite some time people have talked about and discussed," Noem said during a news conference at Ronald Reagan National Airport. "And we know that when President Trump was elected that he pledged to make life better for all Americans and that includes those that are travelers going through our busy airports."
Noem said advancements in technology allowed for TSA to do away with its old requirement. She repeatedly pointed to the implementation of Real ID, a long-delayed requirement that went into effect in part in May.
The Transportation Security Administration began requiring travelers to remove their shoes in 2006. In 2013, the TSA began allowing travelers who paid and qualified for their PreCheck program to keep their shoes on, along with other perks.
In 2001, Richard Reid, later known as "the shoe bomber," tried to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes. Five years later, the policy was viewed as a response to that incident. In 2006, then-TSA Director Kip Hawley told reporters that X-raying shoes was "an effective way of identifying any anomaly, including explosives."
The TSA has previously tested technology that would allow travelers to keep their shoes on, but until Tuesday, hadn't changed the requirement for all travelers.
Noem said other policies could change, too. She said policies requiring the removal of belts and limits on liquids are being reexamined as well.
