US scraps shoe removal at airport screening

AFP | Washington

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Passengers at US airports will no longer have to remove their shoes to pass through security under a new policy unveiled Tuesday, 20 years after the requirement was introduced.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the change to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules at a news conference at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Passengers at US airports have been required to take off shoes during screenings since 2006, five years after the arrest of “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid, who had explosives hidden in his footwear onboard. “In those 20 years since that policy was put in place, our security technology has changed dramatically. It’s evolved. TSA has changed. We have a multi-layered whole of government approach now to security,” Noem said.

“We are very confident that we can continue to provide hospitality to folks and for American travelers and for those visiting our country, while maintaining the same standard of security for passengers and for our homeland,” she added.

Reid, a member of Al-Qaeda, was overpowered by other passengers as he tried to light a fuse on his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.