Democrat Tammy Duckworth writes letter to TSA calling on agency to reinstate the shoes-off airport security policy
Nine months after US airports allowed passengers to pass through scanners without taking off their shoes, rescinding the stringent policy after almost two decades, a top senator claimed the “reckless” move could put passengers in danger.
The policy amounts to a “potentially catastrophic security deficiency”, according to Tammy Duckworth, Democrat for Illinois, and ranking member of the Senate commerce, science and transportation (CST) aviation subcommittee.
In a letter to Ha Nguyen McNeill, deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Duckworth cited news reports that some scanners can’t scan shoes.
The new shoes-on policy was introduced by the former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, Kristi Noem, last July, ending a rule that came into effect after “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 with explosives in his shoes.
