Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem teased Wednesday that changes could be coming to the size of liquid containers allowed for passengers boarding flights in the United States.
Noem said such changes were one of the things the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which reports to Noem, is weighing.
“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’s host Blake Burman at the Hill Nation Summit. “We’re looking at, you know, our scanners.”
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Noem’s comments came about a week after the DHS, which oversees the TSA, announced travelers flying domestically will be allowed to keep their shoes on while passing through TSA screening.
When Burman noted that change, there were cheers from the audience at the summit.
Currently, liquids like juices, bottled water and coffee as well as aerosols, creams, gels and pastes all under 3.4 ounces are allowed in carry-on bags.
Noem spoke about streamlining the experience for domestic travelers at airports, revealing that the DHS is in discussions with “several” companies about making it happen.
“Well, hopefully the future of an airport where I’m looking to go is that you walk in the door with your carry-on suitcase, you walk through a scanner and go right to your flight,” Noem said Wednesday, adding that it could take just “one” minute to get to the gate.
Noem later stated that she is “working with several different companies with technologies to give us competitive bids on what they actually do. You will see us pilot this at a couple of airports before it gets implemented nationwide.”
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“So … it’s not certainly anything we’ll be announcing in the next week or two, but we’re 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,” Noem told The Hill after her appearance at the Hill Nation Summit.
In discussing the matter on stage with Burman, Noem said the TSA needed to put in place a “multi-layered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it is still safe.”
“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,” the DHS chief told Burman.
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Noem then took a jab at the Biden administration for not doing more to make travelers’ experience more efficient.
“I don’t think that was questioned under the Biden administration. It was — I kept wondering if we were doing things just to slow people down, or what it was, but TSA is working on the technology that at we have available to us if we deploy it correctly,” Noem said.
“You should be able just to walk through their screeners — their scanners, you go right to your flight,” she said.
