Why the TSA’s stupid shoe rule never stood up to scrutiny

July 17, 2025 | 7:03pm

New York Post contributor Jacob Sullum unpacks the long-overdue decision by the TSA to finally end its shoe removal requirement at airport security checkpoints. Sullum traces the origins of the policy back to the failed 2001 shoe bombing attempt by Richard Reid and explains how the rule became a lasting symbol of what critics call security theater.
Despite little evidence that the measure ever improved passenger safety, travelers in the United States were forced to follow this burdensome rule for nearly two decades while most other countries opted not to. Sullum explores how politics, public perception, and bureaucratic inertia kept the policy in place for so long and questions whether its end represents real progress or just a cosmetic shift in how we approach airport security.