The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented changes fast and furious in 2025, finally rolling out REAL ID requirements in May and, more recently, doing away with its tedious shoes-off policy.
Like most of America, I'm all for simplifying and speeding up airport security checkpoints, but just like Fonzie in that iconic 1977 episode of Happy Days, we may have officially jumped the shark.
Speaking with NewsNation host Blake Burman at the Hill Nation Summit?earlier this month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described her vision for "the future of an airport."
"The future of an airport, where I¡¯m looking to go, is you walk in the door with your carry-on suitcase, you walk through a scanner and right to your flight. Takes you one minute," said Noem.
While I, and many others, fully support the ambitious vision¡ªespecially as the Trump administration weighs potential changes to the 3-1-1 liquid rule¡ªthere are far too many impediments to having airport screening mirror that of getting into a concert or ball game.
Air Travel in a Post 9/11 World
TSA was formed less than 24 years ago, just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
And while much of the current focus is on airplane safety, air traffic control shortages and IT breakdowns amid a flurry of Boeing mishaps, horrific crashes, near-misses and crippling delays, putting the genie back in the bottle less than three decades after the deadliest terrorist attack in history will be a tall task to say the least.
Unless eliminated, TSA will need to justify its existence. Noem admitted to "wondering if we were doing things just to slow people down," and at times it feels that way.
But the potential consequences of punting on safety are always going to be too big a hurdle to overcome for the sake of speed and convenience.
TSA security line at the Orlando International Airport (Photo Credit: Eric Bowman)
The Human Element
Technology has come a long way, whether it's biometrics or X-ray machines, but airport security lines are still subject to people.
As much as I care for my fellow travelers, we can often get in our own way. In the smartphone age, keeping a simple line moving along can be a chore.
Factor in first-time flyers, anxious passengers and those who may actually be passing through with a prohibited item that can shut down the lane and you've got the potential for significant delays.
Unlike a concert or sporting event, air travel involves not only people but baggage and as the last line of defense before we head off tens of thousands of feet into the sky, TSA is tasked with screening so much more than we often realize.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, the latest TSA changes are a major step in the right direction. And as someone who swears by TSA PreCheck, I can say that I've often breezed through security in Noem's "one minute" goal time.
It can happen.
However, it would be foolish to forecast a future where travelers consistently breeze through airport security. Surges in passenger numbers at peak departure times and around busy travel periods like summer and the holidays are sure to keep TSA under duress.
It's possible, sure. But not likely. I'd love to be wrong, of course.
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