By Sarah Ploss, Kathryn Krupnik, Kris Van Cleave
Updated April 3, 2026 / 7:34 PM EDT
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois Democrat who serves as the ranking member of the Senate aviation subcommittee, is demanding that the Transportation Security Administration reverse its decision allowing travelers to keep their shoes on during airport screening. In a letter obtained by CBS News, Duckworth described the policy as a reckless safety risk tied to findings in a classified Department of Homeland Security inspector general audit.
In her April 3 letter to acting TSA Administrator Nguyen McNeill, Duckworth urged TSA to immediately rescind the shoes-on policy, saying it may put the flying public at risk and was likely adopted without meaningful consultation within the agency. She cited the inspector general’s covert red team testing, which the classified audit used to identify vulnerabilities in screening nationwide. According to the audit, current scanners cannot reliably screen footwear, raising concerns that dangerous items could evade detection.
Duckworth noted that the inspector general flagged the problem as urgent in a rare Seven-Day Letter to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, but that no corrective action was taken. The senator called the lapse outrageous and dangerous, saying that allowing a potentially catastrophic security deficiency to persist for months betrays TSA’s mission. She argued that the agency’s failure to act quickly warrants withdrawing what she described as a reckless and dangerous policy.
The letter also says TSA missed a mandatory 90-day deadline to outline corrective measures after receiving the watch-dog’s findings, a delay Duckworth said may violate federal law, Office of Management and Budget guidance and DHS’s own directives. She urged immediate steps to close the gap and to restore the prior shoe-removal requirement unless and until screening technology can demonstrably compensate.
The shoe-removal requirement dates to the 2001 attempt to detonate explosives hidden in footwear on a U.S.-bound flight. DHS lifted that rule and put the shoes-on policy in place on July 8, 2025, under Secretary Noem. At the time, the department said the change would improve traveler hospitality and speed checkpoints, and asserted it would not undermine security because of advances in technology and layered protections.
CBS News reported that months after the inspector general’s audit, DHS had not provided the required written response detailing corrective actions, leaving recommended fixes open and unresolved and raising questions about whether known gaps are being addressed. In her letter, Duckworth accused Noem of prioritizing politics over security; Noem left the post last month and was succeeded by Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
CBS News has contacted DHS and TSA for comment.