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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that travelers at some airports won’t have to remove their shoes at security checks, ending a nearly 20-year-old policy.
“We want to improve the travel experience while maintaining safety standards,” Noem said during a news conference at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
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.
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