Sen. Duckworth to TSA: ‘Shoes-On’ Policy a Security Risk
3rd April 2026
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Friday called on federal aviation officials to immediately reverse a policy allowing airline passengers to keep their shoes on during airport security screenings, citing newly disclosed findings that the change may have created a significant security vulnerability.
Duckworth, the ranking member of the Senate subcommittee overseeing aviation, said the policy, implemented in July 2025 under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was enacted without sufficient coordination and has since raised alarms within the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
In a letter to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) leadership, Duckworth said covert testing conducted by the OIG found that certain full-body scanners used at airport checkpoints are unable to effectively detect threats concealed in footwear.
Unexplained: What serious threats footwear pose. Even the ‘shoe bomber’ who was the cause of this ridiculous policy in the first place wasn’t a serious threat.
Democrats don’t care about security, they just want people inconvenienced and humiliated.