TSA Ends Shoe Removal Policy At Airport Security Checkpoints After Two Decades
on Jul 09, 2025
TSA To End Shoe Removal Policy
Going through airport security just got a little easier.
On Tuesday, July 8, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that airline passengers will no longer be required to remove their shoes during routine TSA security checks.
The rule requiring passengers to remove their shoes has been in place for nearly 20 years. The new policy is now officially in effect across the country.
According to Noem, the change came after a review of TSA procedures. It was made possible thanks to improved security technology now being used at checkpoints.
“Our security technology has changed dramatically. It’s evolved. TSA has changed,” Noem said during a press conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “We have a multilayered, whole-of-government approach now to security and to the environment that people anticipate and experience when they come into an airport that has been honed and it’s been hardened.”
In a report from NBC News, a senior government official confirmed that the new policy is currently only being applied at select airports. However, it is expected to roll out nationwide soon.
Why Was The “No Shoes” Rule Originally Put In Place?
Everyone flying out of airports in the U.S. has been required to remove their shoes during security screenings since 2006.
The rule was put in place by the TSA five years after Richard Reid, infamously dubbed as the “Shoe Bomber,” attempted to ignite an explosive hidden in his shoe on a flight from Paris to Miami on December 22, 2001.
Reid’s plan ended up failing when the bomb didn’t go off properly. Passengers and the plane’s crew managed to subdue him.
The plane made an emergency landing at Logan International Airport in Boston, where Reid was taken into custody.
He is now serving a life sentence at a federal prison in Colorado.
