DHS Secretary Suggests Liquid Carry-On Limits On Flights Might Be Eased

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

More changes could be coming to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), including on whether more liquids can be taken through airport security, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested on July 16.

“But I will tell you—I mean the liquids—I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be,” Noem told NewsNation in a live interview with The Hill published on July 16, referring to the amount of liquids people can transport through security in their carry-on bags. “We’re looking at our scanners.”

The TSA website says that you “are allowed to bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint,” but are “limited to travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less per item.”

Noem’s comment comes just days after she announced that the TSA has lifted its mandate for travelers to take off their shoes at security checkpoints.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary said that her office is “working with several different companies with technologies to give us competitive bids on what they actually do.”

She added that DHS is “working to see what we can do to make the traveling experience much better and more hospitable for individuals, but also still keep safety standards.”

“It is still a process that is protecting people who are traveling on our airlines. But it has to make sense. It has to actually do something to make you safer,” Noem told the outlet.

Noem did not elaborate on when the TSA might change its rules on liquids in carry-on bags or how much travelers would be able to carry.

This past week, Noem said that travelers no longer have to remove their shoes, a policy that was put in place about 20 years ago. She also said that the TSA plans to review how airport screenings can be simplified and expedited.

“It will be a much more streamlined process,” the secretary said.

Some travelers still may be asked to take off their footwear “if we think additional layers of screening are necessary,” she added.

The TSA was created in 2001 under the administration of then-President George W. Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since then, the TSA has hired federal employees as agents to replace private companies that airlines had used to handle security.

The rule limiting liquids in carry-on bags has been in effect since 2006. It came after a foiled terrorist plot that year involving liquid explosives on an aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada.

The TSA imposed the shoes-off rule at checkpoints after a man tried and failed to detonate an explosive in his shoes in a December 2001 transatlantic flight.

All passengers between the ages of 12 and 75 were required to remove their shoes, which were scanned along with carry-on bags and other separated items such as outerwear. Travelers previously were able to skip the shoe requirement if they participated in the TSA PreCheck program, which costs around $80 for five years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.