Sen. Duckworth Urges TSA to Restore Shoes-Off Screening After IG Flags Security Gap
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has sent a formal letter to Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill demanding the agency reinstate its pre-2025 policy requiring airline passengers to remove their shoes at security checkpoints, calling the current 'shoes-on' rules a 'reckless act' that may endanger travelers. Duckworth cites a classified DHS inspector general report, first reported by CBS News, that allegedly found TSA scanners cannot effectively screen shoes and warned that the 2025 policy change created 'a new security vulnerability in the system.' She accuses former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of ignoring the watchdog’s urgent warning and says TSA appears to have violated federal law by missing a 90-day deadline to outline corrective action after receiving the report. The shoes-off requirement was introduced in 2006 after attempted shoe-bomb plots and was scrapped nationwide on July 8, 2025 in a move the Trump administration said would cut wait times without weakening security, a claim Duckworth now directly challenges. The clash feeds a broader debate, already simmering on social media, over whether recent efforts to streamline airport screening have gone too far in trading traveler convenience for unacknowledged security risks.
📌 Key Facts
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth is urging TSA to immediately reverse its July 8, 2025 'shoes-on' screening policy and bring back mandatory shoe removal at checkpoints.
- A classified DHS inspector general report, referenced by Duckworth and CBS News, reportedly found TSA scanners cannot effectively screen shoes and that the 2025 policy created a new security vulnerability.
- Duckworth alleges TSA failed to meet a legal 90-day deadline to submit a corrective action plan in response to the watchdog report, potentially violating federal law.
- Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended the nearly 20-year shoes-off policy in 2025, arguing it would reduce wait times while maintaining 'the highest security standards.'
📊 Relevant Data
The TSA's shoes-off policy was implemented in 2006 in response to the 2001 attempted shoe bombing by Richard Reid, who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.
TSA's shoe removal policy is over. Here's why it started in the first place. — USA Today
Since the shoes-off policy began in 2006, there have been no successful terrorist attacks involving explosives concealed in shoes on U.S. commercial flights, though the policy was a response to the 2001 attempt.
Inside the shoe bomb plot that changed airport security — and why the rule is now ending — Fox News
A classified DHS Office of Inspector General audit completed in late 2025 identified serious vulnerabilities in TSA's shoe screenings at airports, noting that current scanners cannot effectively detect threats in shoes without removal, and recommended urgent corrective actions that were not implemented.
DHS watchdog warned of risks in airport shoes-off policy. But TSA didn't act, lawmaker says — CBS News
Non-White travelers report significantly higher perceptions of unfair treatment and stress during airport security screenings compared to White travelers, with a study showing 68% of non-White respondents feeling security measures are applied unequally based on ethnicity.
The Impact of Security Scanners at Airports and Ethnic Minority Travellers’ Experience — Leeds Beckett University
TSA body scanners trigger false alarms more frequently for hairstyles popular among Black women, such as Afros, braids, and twists, leading to additional pat-downs and disproportionately affecting this group during screenings.
TSA Agents Say They’re Not Discriminating Against Black Women, But Their Body Scanners Might Be — ProPublica
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